Trollhunters: The Tale Continues
by AirySeaKnightTales
Summary: Jim, Claire, and the rest of the Arcadia trolls find the new heartstone and inevitably unearth life-changing deceptions and ancient secrets. New friends and foes are made as Jim and Claire discover what lies ahead of them in New Jersey and in each other's lives. (This story picks up after Season 3 of Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia)
1. Stuck and Found Part 1

A/N: Hi! This is my first Fanfiction so if you have any questions about my story let me know!

• _^-^•_

THE TALE CONTINUES

By AirySeaKnight

Chapter 1: Stuck and Found Part 1

 _(Radio announcer) "...On Tonight's World News, scientists are still debating how the unexpected solar flares caused the phenomenal global solar eclipse just two weeks ago. In other news, law enforcement is still working hard to sort out the confusion of the spike in missing person reports around the time of the solar eclipse, in which, many of these cases have correlations with strange creature sightings. These have caused some paranoia to those who were key witnesses to the disappearances…"_

A starry night sky glittered above mountains that encased a city. Clanking metal sounded as a freight train chugged into the city's railyard. The train slowed to a stop and two drivers climbed out. A guard exited a small building near the tracks and greeted them. After a short conversation, the men separated and the guard was about to return to his post when a heavy scraping sound came from down the tracks.

The guard turned towards the sound, standing by the opening of two boxcars. He pulled out his flashlight and shined it down the train. Perplexed, he listened. After a few moments, the noise started again. He recognized it as the sound of a boxcar door sliding open.

"Hey, who's there?" He called out. Everything became quiet for a moment.

Suddenly, something jutted past the space between the two boxcars. Startled, he stumbled and fell to the ground, dropping his flashlight. He frantically looked around. But there was nothing.

Out of sight, a figure with two glowing green eyes prowled on top of the boxcar above him. The clamor of another boxcar door opening snapped the guard out of his fright. Taking his flashlight, he cautiously stood. From the corner of his eye, a blur darted away. The guard spun his beam towards it. Again nothing.

Then, the silence was cut by another boxcar door opening. The frightened guard took a gulp and, remembering his duties, began to jog down the tracks towards the noise. When he got to the boxcars, all was quiet and appeared normal. Something caught his eye. A small object dangled off the edge of one of the open boxcar doors. He went over and picked it up. He raised an eyebrow as he held a dirty white tube sock. He caught a whiff of its foul odor and dropped it, wiping his hand on his jacket. Confused, he checked the inside of the boxcar but found it barren. As the guard scratched his head, shadows snuck quietly behind him towards another freight train.

But they weren't human. They were trolls.

The trolls hurried past stationary trains to the edge of the railyard.

"Over here." A voice softly called out from under a nearby road bridge. The trolls ran and reunited with their group.

In the midst of them, a glowing blade appeared in a flash of red mist, revealing the sword-bearer, the Trollhunter. His sword illuminated his pale blue skin, horns, and two fangs jutting up from his lower teeth. The glow spread through his blade and armor enough to show the figures that surrounded him. The last remaining trolls from Heartstone Trollmarket under Arcadia. As well as two humans donned in armor. An old man and a teenage girl, Merlin the wizard and Claire a trollhunter.

"Is that everyone?" He raised his sword to see all the trolls.

A troll in the company with 4 arms and 6 eyes counted the newcomers and responded.

"It appears everyone is accounted for, Master Jim," Blinky said.

"Good." Jim relaxed a little and sheathed his sword to his back. He scanned over the railyard and found no trains were departing. "Well, it looks like we'll be here for the night. Wherever we are."

"I'll check." Claire pulled out her phone and brought up a map. Jim looked up and saw Nomura walking to them.

"Hey, thanks for distracting that guard back there."

"It was my pleasure. Such a pity I couldn't toy with him more." She smirked.

"Got it," Claire squinted at the screen. "It looks like we're in Utah." She said curiously.

"Ah yes Oo-tah. I've heard it has the most bountiful salt deposits, which is why you'll never see a Slug-kin here." Blinky said.

"Now we just need to find some shelter." Jim started to search their surroundings.

"Oi, what about over there." A small troll with green skin, NotEnrique, pointed to an abandoned-looking building a ways behind the road bridge. "There seems pretty good." He said confidently.

"Ah yes, probably rotten, falling apart, and abandoned, that'll do splendid," Merlin said sarcastically.

"Hm, kinda reminds me of a bloke I know," NotEnrique grinned. Merlin half glared at NotEnrique. "Besides, like you can come up with somethin' better?" NotEnrique challenged. As he and Merlin started a light debate, Jim interjected.

"Claire and I will go check it out."

Merlin and NotEnrique's argument caught many of the trolls' attention and no one heard the trollhunter except Blinky.

"Good idea Master Jim, but make haste, I believe this bridge will not stand for long with NotEnrique's quips."

Jim half-smiled. "Got it."

He looked over to Claire and she gave a ready nod. They crept their way to the building, sure to avoid street lights as they traveled. After they crawled through an opening under a chain-link fence they approached a side door entrance. Jim pulled on the metal door and it was locked.

There was a paper taped to the door which Claire read out loud,

"Condemned: Unstable Foundation?"

"Hope it's strong enough to hold a couple of trolls. Step back."

Claire did so as Jim pulled out his sword. All Claire saw was Jim swinging his blade down, it's point close to the edge of the door. The sound of slicing metal hissed through the air, but nothing happened. She was about to ask if he missed until Jim pulled the door open. A piece of metal fell from the door frame. It was the deadbolt sliced clean off.

Claire came up beside Jim, "Smart."

"I try," he shrugged. They both looked inside the dark interior.

Jim went in first. He brought Daylight in front of him and let streams of crimson emanate from the blade. Claire followed and used the flashlight on her phone. It looked like it was a storage warehouse. All that remained were a few crates lying around. As Claire went off and inspected the windows, Jim noticed stairs that went to another floor.

He made his way into the dark basement, crates and storage boxes lined the rows of shelves. Jim thought it odd that whoever owned the building left the basement untouched. He walked down one of the aisles. Nothing seemed out of place until he nearly fell into a pit.

Jim gave a yelp when his foot felt nothing but air underneath it. He instinctively jammed Daylight into the ground and stopped himself from falling further in. He pulled himself up and away from the edge of a huge gaping hole that took up the center of the room. He leaned over the edge and kicked a rock into it. It took a few moments before he heard the rock hit the bottom. He looked around the room for any other signs of damage. Only one support beam was missing where the hole's mouth lay. After Jim inspected a few of the other support beams he went back upstairs.

"I think I know why the foundation might be a _little_ unstable. There's this giant hole down..." he stopped when he saw Claire standing a ways off. It appeared she hadn't heard him because she kept looking through the windows to the waxing moon. Her arms were folded tight and eyebrows knit together.

"Are you okay?" he asked watchfully.

Claire blinked and found Jim. She unfolded her arms, letting them swing to her sides.

"I'm fine."

"You sure, because you seem...not fine. What's wrong?" Concerned, he walked over to her side.

"It's just...I've been feeling kinda useless lately. I mean, it's been 2 weeks since we left Arcadia and I haven't been much help." Claire confided. "As much as it pains me to say it, I think I miss my shadow staff." Moonlight shined through the windows and illuminated her face.

"Oh come on, you've helped plenty."

"Buying heaps of socks for troll food isn't the hardest thing in the world, Jim." She chuckled.

Jim holstered his sword and put a hand on her ironclad shoulder.

"I know it's been hard on you to lose your shadow staff, but it wasn't the staff that made you useful." She turned to face him and their eyes connected. His heart picked up a beat as he looked into her beautiful eyes.

"You are the smartest, bravest, most caring person I know. You are irreplaceable." He moved his hand to brush his thumb over her soft cheek.

"Thanks." She smiled at him, but it quickly faded. She turned her head towards the direction of the trolls outside. "I just hope it's enough to help get us all to the new Heartstone."

Jim stepped closer to her and tenderly placed both hands on her shoulders.

"You _are_ helping. We would be completely lost without your help navigating and besides, we still have a long way to go. You'll get your chance to show just how _amazing_ you are." He smiled genuinely.

Her brows rose and she smiled back. His words, and having him so close, made her heart flutter. She couldn't help but reach forward and pull him into a hug. Jim wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek on her head.

After a long moment, Claire remembered something and pulled back enough to place a hand on his chest plate. The damage from the Eternal Night battle had magically faded from his armor but she knew he was still recovering underneath. She looked up and found the healed scar on the side of his cheek from Angor Rot's blade.

"Are you feeling any better?" Claire searched his face.

"Yeah, still sore in a few places, but pretty good."

He appreciated her concern and enjoyed this moment they had together. They haven't had a lot of time to really talk since they left California. Herding cats was hard, but in his mind herding over a dozen trolls across the U.S. was harder. Jim was grateful above all else that Claire came. She made things a million times better. But, his heart felt heavy knowing her feelings of inadequacy. In the past week, his heart was heavy about a lot of things regarding Claire. Like having to put her through this slow journey. Between the train rides and staying in filthy buildings, she hadn't slept much. He wanted to help but now that his armor stayed on 24/7, his metal-plated shoulder probably wasn't the most comfortable to lean her head against.

What made things even less helpful was that Merlin as cryptic as ever whenever Jim asked him about the permanence of his suit. All Merlin would say was that he would tell Jim more once they all reached the new heartstone. That aside, Jim was mainly concerned about how his physical changes would affect his relationship with Claire. He was much stronger than before. He had to be careful not to crush her hand whenever he got the chance to hold it. As his eyes wandered over her face, he thought about his own. Even though she had said otherwise, he felt that his features were still kind of distracting. Whenever he caught glimpses of his reflection he still struggled to recognize himself. He felt like a giant next to her now that he was over a foot taller than before. Not to mention he was a little self-conscious of his how his fangs stuck out when she looked at him. He looked at her lips, perfect as ever-

"Jim?" Claire asked.

Her voice snapped him back to reality. How long had he been staring at her? Embarrassed, he took a step back.

"Sorry, lost in thought." He tended to get lost in thought around her sometimes. Almost all the time now. This was one of the few times she caught him doing it.

Jim rubbed the back of his neck. "We should probably head back." Nervously he started to head towards the exit. Claire raised an eyebrow in concern. She knew something was still going on with him, but she wasn't sure what exactly. She made a mental note to ask him the next quiet moment they got, so with their luck, probably after they reach New Jersey.

• _^-^•_


	2. Stuck and Found Part 2

**Chapter 2: Stuck and Found Part 2**

•^^•

Jim and Claire exited the warehouse and went back to the road bridge. It appeared that Merlin and NotEnrique's little squabble was over because there was a quiet lull of conversation among the trolls. Blinky turned and saw them approach.

"Ah you've returned, are the accommodations suitable?"

"Yes, as long as no one goes into the basement, it will work," Jim said.

"Splendid, alright everyone let us progress towards our refuge," Blinky directed them towards the warehouse.

"Wait, where's NotEnrique?" Claire scanned their group again. "Please tell me you didn't turn him into a cockroach." Claire directed the last comment towards Merlin.

"I was tempted, but I don't think it would have made much of a difference."

"Then where is he?" Claire looked to the other trolls but was only met by shrugs and confused expressions.

Jim couldn't help but reach down and take Claire's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Don't worry, we'll look for him. Blinky-"

"I will gladly guide everyone to our new safe haven." Blinky nodded.

"Thanks, Blink." They watched as Blinky led the other trolls towards the warehouse. Then Claire began to plan.

"That little troublemaker couldn't have gone far, so maybe we can-"

"Might I be of some assistance." Merlin approached. Jim and Claire turned toward him. "I might have a spell that will do just the trick."

"Um, this won't be like when you gave us a spell to ward off trespassers last week and it turned out to be a magic stink bomb?" Claire hesitated.

"Well, it worked, didn't it? Nonetheless, this spell is quite helpful in locating someone close," Merlin said.

Jim and Claire looked at each other and Claire gave a slight shrug.

"Alright, what did you have in mind?" Jim said.

"A tracking spell, of course. First, I'll need a sort of string or rope with something weighted at the end, like a pendulum."

As they thought, Claire got an idea. She reached behind her neck and unlatched a necklace hidden under her armor.

"Will this work?" She held it out for them to see. Merlin took it and inspected it curiously.

"Wait, since when have you had that necklace?" Jim asked.

"My Abuelita gave it to me the last time I visited her. I've only ever worn it on this trip." Claire said a little bashfully as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"It will work perfectly." Merlin took the necklace and held it up in front of him. He muttered a few unrecognizable words and the necklace began to glow. After a moment he stopped and the necklace returned to normal.

"Now take the necklace, think of the one you want to find and presto, it will point you to your missing troll."

Claire held the necklace with her hand and closed her eyes. and the necklace began to glow again. After a moment the charm of the necklace began to rise and acted like it was being pulled in a certain direction. Claire opened her eyes.

"Wow. Thanks, Merlin." She nodded towards the wizard.

Merlin raised his staff to her just before he turned and started to walk towards the warehouse.

"Good luck finding that little cockroach," Merlin called out over his shoulder.

Jim and Claire chuckled.

"I hope he's joking," Claire said lightly.

"We'll find out soon enough."

Jim and Claire followed the direction the necklace pointed. It quickly led them towards a small neighborhood. The necklace quivered more and more as they got closer to a particular backyard. As they crouched by bushes lining the outside of the backyard's tall wooden fence, the necklace went slack.

"He must be here," She put her necklace back on. Claire looked over to find Jim sniffing the air.

"What is it? Do you smell NotEnrique?" Claire wasn't quite sure what the extent of Jim's new troll abilities were and though some were odd, they were always handy.

"No. Socks?" Jim made sure to control his voice so he didn't give away how delicious socks smelled to him. Although sweaty socks were a common troll food, he avoided them like the plague. He didn't want to put Claire through having to deal with bad breath on top of everything else that changed. He stood up and his eyes skimmed over the fence.

"Socks?" Claire said confused. She got up too and tried to see through the cracks in the wood fence. Jim noticed.

"Need a boost?" Jim took his eclipse blade from its resting place on his back and stabbed it into the ground. He held out his hand to Claire.

Catching on, she took his hand and stepped on the hilt of the sword. She held the edge of the fence and stood tall enough to see over.

Just then, a small boy came running out of the house, followed by a girl who was a little older. Each giggled like mad and clutched big diamond patterned socks. Then another small figure leaped out of the house. NotEnrique.

"I'm gonna get those socks from yuh's," He joked.

They squealed with excitement and began to run from NotEnrique as he playfully chased them.

"Is he-?" Suddenly the sword shifted under Claire and she lost her balance. As she fell backward Jim caught her in his arms smoothly without too much noise from their armor clanking together.

"Careful," Jim said lightly with a smile.

Claire looked up at him and let a breath of relief out in a chuckle.

"I'm always careful, your sword is the one that needs to be more steady." She remarked.

For a moment they forgot where they were. Jim didn't loosen his hold on Claire when something in the back of his head said he probably should. Claire didn't seem to mind their faces were inches apart. Then from the corner from his eye, Jim saw his silhouette on the fence from the glare of a nearby lamppost. He saw how his horns jutted out from his head and was reminded of his appearance. He looked away and pulled back from Claire. The last of the tension broke and Jim immediately put Claire down. Sadness clung to his chest, making his armor seem a little heavier.

It was impossible for Claire not to notice the change in Jim's countenance when he looked at his shadow. Her eyes flashed with concern.

"Jim-"

All of a sudden an elderly man's voice called out from inside the house. "Hey kids where'd you run off to?"

"Whatever NotEnrique's up to, we need to get him out of there, now," Claire said changing the subject.

Jim turned back to Claire. "How? He's surrounded by people."

She thought for a moment and chewed her lip. The only plans she could think of involved Jim possibly being seen, which she concluded that his appearance was causing him some insecurity. Wasn't he helping her overcome her own insecurities not too long ago?

The old man called out again, "Hey kids where are you and where did you put my glasses, I can't see a thing?"

A crazy idea struck her.

"Stay here, I'll take care of it." Determined she briskly walked towards the front of the house.

"Wait, Claire!" He quietly called after her as she disappeared around a corner.

He crept his way between bushes and fence and hid behind a tall tree in the dark front lawn. He watched as Claire went straight up to the door, in her purple suit of armor, and rang the doorbell.

"What is she thinking?" He said to himself as he waited to see what would happen.

The front door opened and the old man they heard earlier squinted through a screen door at Claire.

"Good Evening sir, my name is Claire and I'm looking for my lost dog, uh…. Scruffy. Have you seen him by chance."

The old man squinted harder at Claire, Jim held his breath, and suddenly the old man let out a loud sneeze.

"Pardon me, now did you say something about a missing dog?"

Jim remembered to breathe again.

"Yes, yes I did. He's a rare...Chihuahua. He's about yay high, slightly...balding everywhere but his upper back, oh and he has a diaper too." She said with a nervous smile.

"Well, you're in luck, my grandkids just came upon a dog like that, just half an hour ago. I'll just go get them." The old man turned inside and called to his grandchildren to bring "Scruffy" in.

Jim leaned against the tree as he watched Claire wait to get NotEnrique back. _I can't believe that worked,_ Jim thought. He smiled at Claire, recognizing this moment as one where she proved to be more useful than him. The thought turned bittersweet as doubt started to cloud his thoughts. She had to do this on her own because of the way he looked. The way he was.

"Wuts that on yor clothes?"

Jim's eyes widened as he slowly turned to the source of the voice. The little boy, maybe 3 years old, was standing next to him. The kid's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looked at Jim's face.

"Uh," was all Jim could say.

He looked around and saw the open gate that led to the backyard. How had he let himself get distracted enough to let a little kid sneak up on him. Before he could think of what to do, the kid acted first.

"Wow yor teef are pointy, mine are too. See." The little boy bared his tiny teeth.

With those few words, Jim's tensions melted away and for the first time in a while he felt...normal. He looked at the toddler as he continued to bare his teeth and smiled. Jim got down on one knee and inspected them.

"You're right, those are pretty pointy." Jim let out a laugh from the bizzarity of the situation. Here a little boy wasn't scared of him. Here was hope for the future.

On the porch, the boy's grandfather returned holding NotEnrique in his arms.

"You might want to watch what you feed your dog, he's a heavy one." He placed NotEnrique in Claire's arms.

"Don't worry I'll be sure to put him on a _strict_ diet after this." She glared at NotEnrique. He gave a little whimper of defeat.

Just then, the old man looked over Claire's shoulder and noticed his grandson with a stranger dressed in some kind of reflective clothing, similar to the young woman in front of him.

He squinted again and asked, "Who's that strapping young fella over there?"

"Oh uh," Claire quickly turned around. She saw Jim standing by a tree a short distance away. _Is Jim talking to that kid?_ Claire thought. They seemed to be deep in some kind of conversation and Jim was laughing. Claire hadn't seen Jim that happy for a while. A smile came to her lips.

"That's my boyfriend." She said confidently, glad to be telling the truth. She faced the grandfather. "He's been helping me find Scruffy here."

"Sounds like you got yourself a good fella to be out here looking for that peculiar dog of yours."

"Yeah, he's the best." Claire smiled.

Jim grinned in the shadows as he heard Claire's words.

"Time to come in champ, your parents will be home soon." The old man called out to his grandson.

The kid was too enraptured by touching Jim's horns to respond to his grandfather.

"Hey, I think your Grandfather's calling you," Jim said and tickled the kids under his arm. The child laughed and let go. The kid had a big grin, then he finally heard his Grandfather call out again and the kid turned back to Jim.

"Bye!" he said before heading back to the front porch.

Jim stood up and smiled at the kid as he returned to his Grandfather.

"Thanks for your help," Claire said before she descended the stairs and walked up to Jim.

"Our pleasure," The grandfather said as he picked up his grandson and they waved to Claire, Jim, and NotEnrique as they walked around the corner. Once they were out of sight Claire tossed NotEnrique to the ground.

"NotEnrique, why did you run off and what were you thinking, playing with those kids!?" Claire said angrily.

"I was hav'n enough of that old goat Merlin, so I may have wandered off a ways til I smelled the most wonderful smell of sticky argyle socks. I couldn't resist. Then the young'ins saw me eat'in their grandpop's socks and turned it into a game. They thought I was a talk'in dog," He chuckled.

"NotEnrique that was dangerous, you're just lucky that guy was as blind as a bat," Jim said.

"I hope you learned something from this," Claire said.

"Yeah, toddlers are vicious."

"How about 'don't wander off'," Jim said.

"Yeah yeah that too," he scampered just ahead of them.

After some silence, Claire couldn't help but ask. "So what happened back there with that little boy?" She eyed him.

"He snuck up on me."

" _He_ snuck up on _you_? The Trollhunter was snuck up on by a little kid." She said playfully.

"Laugh all you want, but I'm kinda glad he did." Jim admitted.

"Why?"

"Because sure, he noticed everything weird about me, but...he wasn't scared," Jim said smiling to himself. "In fact, he thought I was 'cool'."

Claire laughed and took Jim's hand in hers as they walked. She squeezed his gloved hand. "Well, you _are_ pretty cool," she said as she glanced up at him. Hope bristled in Jim's chest as he looked at Claire. _Maybe I worried for nothing._ Jim thought

They didn't let go of each other's hands until they reached the warehouse.

•^^•


	3. Tunnel Vision

Author's Note: This chapter is where the adventure REALLY begins. The first two chapters were to show that Jim has fully accepted himself. The next chapter is where the plot begins. Enjoy.

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Tunnel Vision**

•^-^•

A faint beeping woke Jim from his sleep. Groggy, he instantly went to hit the snooze button of his clock. Except his hand hit cement. Confused he opened his eyes and remembered where he was. Jim looked out the warehouse windows and saw that dawn was approaching. He looked around to all the trolls asleep around him as well as Claire and Merlin. It was odd that the trolls were actually sleeping at night, but without a heartstone, they became tired easily and needed regular sleep.

Jim sat up and stretched. That's when he noticed the beeping sound from earlier was still going. He quickly stood, stepping over snoozing trolls while he searched for the source. He was drawn to the windows and looked outside.

"Oh no." His eyes widened as a wrecking ball and crane was being backed into the warehouse property.

Working fast, Jim began to wake the trolls. By the time he woke the last troll the sky had gotten lighter and the sun would shine over the mountains any minute.

Suddenly, a doorknob jiggled at the entrance of the warehouse. Jim quickly turned and hurled his sword at the door, jamming it. The construction worker on the other side of the door jumped back in surprise at the sound. He tried the door again.

"Hey, it won't open. I think something fell on it." The man called out to his fellow co-workers.

"Downstairs, hurry." Jim urgently whispered as he pointed to the stairs. Everyone rushed down below. Jim followed. As he reached the bottom of the stairs his sword of eclipse magically appeared in his hand.

In the basement, Blinky was walking down one of the isles in the dark, two of his six eyes saw the sudden drop in front of him. He held out his arms to stop the other trolls behind him.

"Great Gronka Morka, Master Jim you failed to mention there is a cavern here." He worriedly proclaimed.

"Well, I hoped we wouldn't have to come down here." Jim said as he quickly scanned for another way out.

Just then, the construction worker opened the door upstairs. They heard footsteps above them and voices.

"Alright, check each room. Make sure they're all clear. Hey! Don't go into the basement it's not safe." The man yelled to another construction worker. Jim let out a sigh of relief. After a few more moments of silence, the construction workers steps faded.

"Are they gone?" NotEnrique asked, voicing what everyone else was thinking.

"Even if they are gone, we can't go up, the sun-"

Claire was cut off when a loud crashing noise made the room shudder. Cracks appeared in the ceiling above them and dust rained down. The construction crew had just ran the wrecking ball through a wall in the warehouse.

"They are destroying the building!" Blinky yelled.

"We're trapped!" A troll screamed out. The other trolls cried out in fear.

Another crashing sound came from above, but this time more rubble came down on the trolls. Jim looked up in time to see part of the ceiling about to come down on Claire. His shield expanded instantly on his arm and Jim leaped to Claire. He pulled her close with one arm and held up his other blocking the rocks with his shield. Claire held tight and squinted through the dust and debris. She noticed the deep cavern a few feet away.

"What about the pit, maybe there's a way out?" She said trying not to inhale the dust filled air.

Merlin held up his staff and created a green magic shield over them and stopped the rocks from falling directly on them all.

Jim looked over and considered the pit. The crash from another hit of the wrecking ball above sounded and more of the ceiling came raining down on the Merlin's shield. There was no other option.

"Merlin, can you move everyone down there?"

"Why not ask for a roasted pheasant instead that would be easier at this moment."

"Merlin!"

"Oh alright."

Merlin concentrated and green shoots of light burst from his other hand and wrapped around three trolls. He lifted them up and then down into the hole.

Bigger chunks of rocks were coming down and with them, cracks of sunlight were starting to seep through the ceiling including through Merlin's magic shield. Merlin continued to move trolls down as the rest did their best to avoid the sunlight. Jim got hit by a ray of sunlight on his arm and quickly recoiled.

"Jim!" Claire called out.

As more light came through Claire grabbed box libs from the storage shelves and held them up to block any more light from hitting Jim.

"Gentlyyyy." Blinky said as he was quickly lowered down the dark hole with Nomura and NotEnrique. Merlin drew the coils of green magic back and wrapped them around Jim and Claire, the last to go down, and lifted them above the pit.

All of a sudden the entire ceiling collapsed on Merlin's magic force shield and broke his concentration, making him drop Jim and Claire.

They both let out a scream as they plunged into the darkness. However, Jim speedily kicked off the side of the cavern hole and collided mid air with Claire.

"Hold on!" he yelled.

Claire was already reaching up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Jim held his sword point down and stabbed it into the other side of the deep hole. They slid to a stop. They both let out a breath.

"Good catch." Claire said as she pulled back to look at Jim. Then she saw something at the top of the cavern and gasped. Jim looked up to see huge chunks of the building coming down towards them.

Jim pushed off the wall and left his sword in the side of the cavern as he fell to the opposite side of the hole. Right before he was about to hit the cavern wall his glaives came out of his suit and flew to his hands. He used the smaller blades to slow their decent and repeated to jump down, wall to wall, until they reached the bottom. Just as Jim hit the ground he pulled Claire into his arms and leaped out of the way of the falling rubble.

An eruption of dust filled the extended tunnel that led out of the bottom of the hole. After the dust settled Jim put Claire down and returned his thigh blades to their resting place. His eclipse blade reappeared in his hand in a puff of red mist and Jim held it up high as crimson flames emanated from it and illuminated the tunnel they were standing in.

Everyone looked at the pile of rock that blocked the hole.

"Jim, where is Merlin?" Blinky asked as he came over to them. In response, Jim turned back to the huge pile of building debris with a sad look.

Blinky gasped and bowed his head. A few of the other trolls did so too. Even NotEnrique.

Then, a green light started to shine through the rubble and within moments it lit up the whole tunnel. Merlin came bursting out of the rocks and floated down and stood in front of the trollhunter.

"You're alive." Jim said happily.

"Thought you could get rid of me that easily." Merlin gave a slight smile. "Now what do we have here." Merlin said referring to the big long tunnel they all stood in.

Claire took out her phone and shined her light down the tunnel. It appeared to go on forever, except an object appeared a ways down the tunnel.

"What's that?" She asked.

NotEnrique scampered down the tunnel to the object. Everyone followed. When they finally got close enough, they found that they were standing before a Gyre.

"What's a Gyre doing here? I thought the gyres' stopped working after the heartstone died." Jim asked.

"True, perhaps someone managed to sneak away from trollmarket and were traveling when its source of power was destroyed by Morgana. Sadly without the heartstone to power it. It is useless." Blinky deduced.

Meanwhile, NotEnrique had climbed into the gyre and was looking around. He noticed one of the knobs was glowing.

"Hmm" NotEnrique flipped the glowing nob.

Suddenly the gyre turned on and lurched forward colliding into the side of the tunnel.

Everyone looked in awe as NotEnrique got up dizzily.

"Uh, I meant to do that." NotEnrique said.

Blinky's jaw dropped.

"Do realize what this means! We can travel to New Jersey in mear seconds now!" Blinky exclaimed.

"But how is it being powered?" Jim asked. He was walking towards the gyre when his foot hit something. He lowered his eclipse blade and saw the stoney remains of troll's leg. Jim's eyes widened as he and Claire looked closer at the leg.

"This can't be a good sign." Jim said.

Just then the ground shook and rumbled in the tunnel.

"That was weird. It felt like something was moving under us." Claire said.

A distant roar cut through the silence. Jim knew that sound all too well. He gently ushered Claire back and looked over to Nomura. He saw the recognition on her face of what made the noise, confirming the worst.

"Start loading trolls in the gyre, NOW!" He commanded as he held his sword ready toward the source of the roar which was coming from behind the rubble that blocked off the other part of the tunnel. Blinky quickly climbed into the gyre.

"Merlin, I require your assistance in lifting the gyre onto the tracks." Blinky called.

"It appears all I'm good for is heavy lifting." Merlin said to himself but went over to the gyre and shot green coils out of his hands and they wrapped around the gyre.

Suddenly a Nyarlagroth burst through the blockade of rocks and let a roar reverberate through the tunnel.

"I hate those things." Nomura said angrily.

Jim roared back at the the creature and ran full on towards it. Nomura followed with her scimitars drawn.

Merlin finished putting the gyre back on the gyre tracks and they loaded a few of the trolls on. Blinky took off in the gyre in a flash.

Claire watched as Nomura and Jim dodged and attacked the Nyarlagroth. She decided to help gather the dispersed trolls away from the fight.

Blinky came and took more trolls in the gyre and went again, already getting more than half of the trolls to safety. After Blinky came and left another time the tunnel shook from the battle taking place. With the gargantuan serpent's body taking up most of the tunnel, Jim and Nomura had little space to avoid its attacks. As Merlin was helping load the last of the trolls into the gyre, Claire turned in time to see Nomura leap around the Nyarlagroth's head and slice one of its eyes. This caused the creature to screech out in pain and suddenly jerk left, slamming Jim into the side of the tunnel.

"Jim!" Fear struck Claire as she watched Jim unable to free himself. She ran towards the chaos, but knew there was nothing that she could do. Then, she heard Jim cry out in pain from the weight of the Nyarlagroth crushing him and panic coursed through her.

"NO!" She reflexively jutted her hand out towards Jim and something impossible occured. Ancient words came into Claire's mind as purple light glowed around her hand. Suddenly a burst of light shot out of her hand and hit the Nyarlagroth's scaly belly. This distracted the serpent just enough for Jim to free himself. Jim fell to the ground and rolled out of the way before the Nyarlagroth slammed its body into the tunnel wall again. He skidded across the stone floor and fell to his hand and knees, holding his ribs in pain.

The surprise of what Claire just did was overrun by her desire to get Jim to safety. Claire ran to Jim and helped him away from the Nyarlagroth. From behind them Merlin joined the fight and kept the beast at bay as Nomura sliced it's other eye.

A flash of light lit the tunnel as Blinky and the gyre returned.

"We have to get you out of here!"

"No." Jim weezed. "Everyone else first."

Reluctantly Claire knew he was right and she called for the rest of the trolls to board the gyre. Blinky took off again and the tunnel shook from the ongoing battle. Jim and Claire watched as Merlin was finally able to bind the Nyarlagroth down. Nomura seized her opportunity and leaped for the top of the Nyarlagroth's head and dug her blade into it. The serpent writhed in agony as it collapsed to the ground and slowly stopped moving. Nomura pulled her scimitar from the Nyarlagroth's head and sheathed it to her back.

"Disgusting." Nomura said disdainfully at the dead Nyarlagroth. Jim leaned on Claire as they went over to Nomura and Merlin.

The gyre came to a halt and powered down. Blinky hopped out and approached them.

"Good work trollhunters, the Nyarlagroth is defeated and our troll brethren are safe."

"But, how did that thing get all the way out here in the first place?" Jim took shallow breaths trying to keep the stabbing pain of what felt like broken ribs to a minimum.

"It may have been spooked away during the Eternal Night battle. I remember we left the Wigawamps with one, but we never found the remains before we left." Claire suggested.

"A fine plausibility." Blinky said. Jim remembered something and turned to Merlin.

"Thanks for helping me get loose from the Nyarlagroth, I don't know if I would have lasted much longer."

"I don't quite understand what you mean. I intervened after the fair lady Claire pulled you away from the beast, not before." Merlin said confused. Claire tensed up when she remembered what she did.

"What? But then how-"

"Are you two really going to debate about who threw what hit when the rest of the trolls are waiting for us?" Nomura said bored.

Claire let out a quiet sigh of relief. She didn't think she was ready to explain what happened because she didn't understand it entirely herself. How could she have performed magic without, well, magic? It worried her a little.

"Right, let us resume our journey and join our kindred."

Jim leaned on Claire as they all walked over and boarded the gyre. Just before Blinky started the gyre and they took off, Claire looked back and saw the scorch mark of her blast on the stomach of the dead Nyarlagroth. Her worry replaced itself with fear.


	4. New to New Jersey

Those Nyarlagroth's have impeccable timing, don't they?

Anyway, this chapter is a little slow at first but hang in there, it gets good.

I should be posting the next chapter on Thursday ;)

* * *

 **Chapter 4: New to New Jersey**

•^-^•

"I don't like you going by yourself," Jim said as he stood at the entrance of a huge sewage pipe that led out into a city river.

Claire smoothed out the wrinkles of her favorite Papa Skull t-shirt and some black jeans. She changed into them after they arrived at the underground gyre station, but the station only led to the sewer pipe they stood in.

"I'll be fine. I'm just going for a food run," Claire looked up at Jim.

"Why can't Merlin go with you?" Jim asked with a hint of desperation.

"Because last time people kept coming up to us, wanting to take pictures with him and his 'cosplay armor', we're trying _not_ to be noticed remember." She was glad she packed away a change of outfit in her backpack. Her purple suit of armor drew attention as well.

"I still don't like it. There's something off about this place." Jim looked out over the river from the darkness of the pipe. All he could see was a normal looking city teeming on the other side of the river. But he could shake the feeling that there was something else here, something…dark.

"It's bound to be a little weird. It's New Jersey. Don't worry, I'll be back before sundown." She held his hand for a moment before she let go and shouldered her backpack. Claire exited the pipe and stepped onto a small walkway that led up to the street level. She looked back at Jim smiling to reassure him before she turned and walked into the sunlight.

Jim took a pained uneven breath and returned back to the gyre station where everyone was waiting.

•^-^•

After hours of searching, Claire finally found a donation store that sold old socks in bulk. The city the gyre station was under was called Bellridge. From a public statue she saw, it said this city was founded by people who made bells almost 200 years ago. The garbage bag filled with socks slung over her shoulder felt as heavy as a bell as she walked back to the gyre station.

While she traveled she wondered how they all would find the new heartstone. Maybe Merlin had some magic spell that points you to a heartstone? Not likely, but you never knew with him.

She began to imagine what the heartstone would look like.

 _Would it be as big as the Arcadia heartstone? Or would it-_

Claire felt a light tug around her neck. She stopped and pulled out her necklace. The medallion jumped from her fingers and was being pulled into the air towards one side.

"What?" She looked around to make sure no one saw her necklace medallion floating in the air. She turned towards the direction the necklace pointed and found it went northwest of where she was. Confused as to why it wasn't pointing the direction NotEnrique was. _Then maybe,_ she thought _, the necklace isn't pointing to him, maybe it's pointing to the heartstone_? She had been thinking about it when the necklace came to life.

Claire held the medallion with her hand to keep others from seeing it floating. She began to pick up her pace to hurry and tell the others her discovery.

Yet, as she walked the necklace began to slack. She stopped. She concentrated hard on the image of the heartstone, but the necklace still slowly sank. To see what would happen, Claire walked back the way she came. The necklace instantly lifted itself again and tugged harder towards the direction it pointed.

She stopped again unsure of what to do. She could either follow where her necklace led or go back to the others and possibly lose the location of the hearthstone. With that thought, she pulled out her phone and quickly texted Jim.

 _Following a lead to the heartstone. I'll be back soon :)_

Hopefully, the smiley face would help Jim not freak out about her running off. She checked her phone, It was still half an hour until sunset so she still had some light left to safely explore. She dumped the garbage bag of socks in an alley that she could easily find later and followed the point of her necklace.

•^-^•

After even more walking, Claire's necklace led her to a big park sunken into the earth filled with trees, walking paths, and a giant overpass that ran through it. Although the beautiful sunset basked the park with vibrant colors it seemed odd to her that there was no one there. With it being summer and all, she thought that there would be at least a few kids on the playground, but there weren't even any adults walking around. The stillness seemed eerie.

As the last rays of sunlight faded over the horizon the park slowly grew darker and lampposts were turning on. Claire had just reached the center of the park when the necklace dropped down and stopped moving. She took it off and swung it in her hand, again nothing.

"You look lost. You should leave the way you came," said a gruff voice with a slight New Jersey accent from the growing shadows.

Claire spun around. A big man with thick arms, dark clothes, and for some reason wearing a ski-mask under his hoodie, leaned against the wall of the park's overpass.

"Thanks for the suggestion, but no thanks." She said defiantly, determined to stand her ground. Under normal circumstances, she would have high-tailed it out of there, but she had a purpose for being there. No one was getting in her way.

"Well then get lost, this is my territory." He said nonchalantly.

"Since when is a public park someone's territory?" She challenged.

"You must be new here. I guess we'll have to _show_ you how this park is our turf." He pulled away from the wall and just then from the darkened tunnel under the overpass, five more thugs came out and stood by the first thug, all big and dressed similarly.

 _On second thought, maybe this was a bad idea._

Claire raised her fists, a little nervous to fight 6 guys at once, when two of the thugs had their feet kicked out from under them. They both hit the ground hard. Everyone looked to see an old man in armor bringing up his staff from tripping the thugs.

"Now it isn't nice to treat a lady like that now is it?" Merlin smiled smugly.

"What are you doing here?" Claire yelled.

"Saving your skin, you ought to thank me," Merlin said casually.

The first thug had enough of their conversation.

"Get them!" He commanded the rest of his gang.

Four of them attacked Merlin head on. The wizard dodged each strike and delivered hits just as fast, sure to not use magic in front of humans.

Two other thugs ran towards Claire and she booked it through the trees off the walking path. She nimbly ran around trees off the walking path and into a playground. She hopped into a swirly slide just before the gangsters reached her. They couldn't fit inside the slide so they started bashing on it, hoping to knock her out of it. Eventually, she lost her grip and slid down enough for one of the goons to grab her ankle and yank her out. She screamed as he tossed her with surprising strength clear across the playground and into a nearby tree. She crashed through bows and branches as she fell to the ground.

"Ow," She said to herself, a little out of sorts sitting up.

Across the park, Merlin was still deflecting blows but saw Claire get flung into the tree.

"This is no time for climbing trees, when are you going to fight back?" He called out at her as he swung his staff and used Rule-Number-Three on one of the thugs. They fell to their knees and curled up into a ball.

She grunted in frustration at the comment. Looking around for something to fight with, she found a thick tree branch that had broken off. One of her pursuers ran towards her, now with a knife drawn. Claire gasped and grabbed the tree branch. She quickly deflected the jab and the thug's momentum caused him to run head first into a tree with a loud CRACK. He hit his head so hard it splintered and broke chunks off the tree bark. The goon slumped to the ground, out cold. The second gangster behind her was surprised by the sudden turn of events.

Claire faced the other thug.

"Alright tough guy."

She snapped off the leafy end of the branch and spun it in her hands getting used to the weight. Then she held it firm and pointed it towards the brute.

"Let's dance."

Claire yelled as she ran towards him. She was about to strike when suddenly, a dark figure jumped down from a tree and landed squarely on top of the thug, knocking him out.

Claire stopped and lowered her branch.

"You know I had that under control," she said a little annoyed.

"Under control? You got thrown into a tree!" Jim said irritated, proving his point.

Jim hopped off the thug and winced as he straightened himself, holding his rib-cage. Claire's annoyance evaporated as she realized Jim must have ran all the way here, injured, for her. The action humbled her.

"Thanks...for coming for me." She said guiltily.

Jim sighed, letting the last of his anger go.

"Claire, what's going on?" He asked sincerely.

"Didn't you get my text message?"

"Yeah, but it made as much sense as Blinky's conspiracy theories. Tell me, how is almost getting killed by muggers 'following a lead to the heartstone'?"

"I'm sorry to put you through all this, but I promise I can explain everything." As Claire talked about how she got to the park, the thug that Jim knocked out, woke up behind them.

He shook off his dizziness and pulled out his hidden dagger. The goon aimed it at them threateningly.

"That's it, you better get out of here or I'll-"

In a flash, Jim swung his sword from its resting place and held the point inches away from the gangster's ski-masked face. Jim let a low growl leave his lips.

The thug let out a small shriek and dropped his knife as he ran away. Jim took a ragged breath and leaned on his sword from exhaustion. Claire came over to Jim and helped support him. They watched as the brute ran towards the rest of his beaten friends. The first thug from earlier looked back at Jim and Claire, there almost seemed to be recognition in his stance, but he turned quickly and disappeared under the shady overpass with the rest of his gang. Leaving them alone in the park.

"If you two are done wooing each other, I believe you will want to see this."

Almost alone.

Merlin faced a tagged wall, part of the overpass in the park. Jim and Claire walked over to him.

"If I'm not mistaken, which is highly unlikely, it would appear that some of these colorful inscriptions are in trollish."

Jim took another glance over the graffiti and found that there were trollish characters sprayed onto the side of the wall.

"It is trollish! Then that means trolls are nearby."

"The hearthstone must be close!" Claire beamed.

"But where?"

As Merlin and Jim talked, Claire looked around for more trollish graffiti, but found none. Then the knife, the one the thug had nearly used on her earlier, caught her attention. It seemed bigger than an ordinary pocket knife. Curious, she went over and picked it up. She turned it over in her hands and found trollish letters carved into it.

"They're here!" She proclaimed with excitement. Jim and Merlin stopped and looked at her confused. She walked back to them.

"The trolls were right here. Right in front of us." She gave the blade to Jim, who turned it over in his hands, eyebrows raised.

"Are you saying we just fought trolls?" Jim asked.

"That would explain their dimwittedness," Merlin snided. Jim and Claire chose to ignore the comment.

"Maybe following those trolls can lead us to the heartstone." She urged.

They all looked towards the overpass.

"It's worth a shot," Jim said before they walked to the shadowed short tunnel. They split up and searched for clues, then Jim pointed to a spot on the ground.

"Look at this," Jim said as small amounts of gravel were strewn about in patterns on the concrete ground.

"Are those...foot tracks?" Claire pulled out her phone and shined the flashlight on the ground. They followed the tracks until they came to an abrupt stop in front of the wall that was halfway through the overpass tunnel.

"This is where they end," Jim said. Claire pulled out a horngozle from her backpack.

"We'll see about that." she dragged the point of the horngozle along the wall and made a doorway. Light immediately shimmered along the drawn edges as she pressed the center of the doorway. The section cracked and the rocky pieces moved out of the way revealing a wide stone stairway that led deep underground.

Bright orange Geode crystals lined the walls like hallway lights, illuminating the descent down.

"No turning back now," Jim said and led the way down the passage. The doorway closed and engulfed them into the earth.

•^-^•

 _Meanwhile, in an abandoned building in New Jersey._

A hooded figure looked up from his ancient texts as he sensed a shift in the city around him.

"So the prophecy will come to pass after all." He closed the old book and stood up from his studies.

His eyes glowed golden as a malicious smile spread over his face.

•^-^•


	5. Not so Welcome

**Chapter 5: Not so Welcome**

•^-^•

Jim, Claire, and Merlin walked down the geode lit stairs deeper and deeper underground. Until finally the stairs stopped and leveled out into a long stone corridor. A light shined onto the wall at the end of the big hallway.

They turned the corner at the end of the corridor and found it led to a type of balcony that led out over a cave or something just ahead of them.

When they walked out onto the balcony they all stopped in aw at the scene before them.

A huge cavern almost as big as their old trollmarket stretched out before them. A giant light blue geode-like heartstone grew out of the side of the cavern and covered everything with pale blue light.

Jim felt like he had just stepped into sunlight as the light of the heartstone hit him. But the light didn't just refresh him, it restored him. His chest didn't hurt as much as it did before. He took a deep breath and found that it was easier to breathe.

"Woah," Jim said to himself.

"Look!" Claire pointed down to the base of the cavern and they all saw what looked like a trollmarket, bustling with activity.

"I can't believe it, there's another trollmarket with more trolls!" Jim said excitedly.

"We did it, we found the heartstone!" Claire said overjoyed.

Jim picked Claire up in a hug and spun her around. She laughed and they hugged each other tightly before Jim set her down.

"Perhaps save the celebration for later, we have company," Merlin said seriously.

They found the balcony was at the top of a stone staircase that zigzagged down to the base of the trollmarket. Coming up the stairs were trolls with spears. As they approached Jim pulled out his eclipse blade and held it ready to strike. As the trolls approached, Claire recognized them by their clothes as the trolls they had just fought, but they didn't have their ski-masks on anymore.

"How did you get in here?" Demanded a troll with greyish-blue skin and a furry Mohawk and goatee. He sounded like the first thug that Claire talked with.

"We used a horngozle," Claire said casually.

The trolls glanced at one another uneasy. The troll with the Mohawk looked harder at Jim for a moment.

"Who are you?" The troll asked.

"My name is Jim and I'm the Trollhunter."

The troll's stony brows raised in surprise. The rest of the trolls holding spears lowered them as they looked dumbfounded and confused.

"Come with us, you must speak with our leader." He said monotoned. Jim, Claire, and Merlin exchanged looks but none of them thought any harm to it so they followed him and the other trolls down the staircase.

When they reached the bottom, a crowd had already formed.

"Make way!" The Mohawk troll yelled.

The trolls split apart for them to go through. Most of the crowd looked displeased with Jim, Claire, and Merlin being there. The rest seemed scared of them. What really caught Jim's attention was that there were what looked to be young trolls in the crowd as well. He had never seen kid trolls before, at the old Trollmarket, he wondered why there were so many here.

"Romkil!" A tall dark-grey troll yelled out as he cut through the crowd and approached them. "What are you doing bringing these intruders into our market?" The angrily said to the Mohawk troll.

"Galerg, one of these intruders says he's The Trollhunter." Romkil said to the tall troll in a serious tone.

Galerg looked at the three of them and he laughed out loud.

"Ha, good one. There hasn't been a trollhunter in centuries." He said cynically.

"Hi, yeah I can assure you I'm the trollhunter." Jim said.

Claire interjected. "I take it you haven't heard about the Trollmarket in California?"

"Another Trollmarket?" Galerg remarked.

"Well, there _was_ another trollmarket, until Gunmar and Morgana took over and-" The mention of the gum-gum and the witch caused the trolls to break out in worried discourse, cutting Claire off.

"Gunmar and Morgana! They've been trapped for centuries!" Galerg's words calmed the crowd down. "Now, I won't take theses lies any longer, guards escort them out immediately." Galerg barked.

Before they could do anything, Merlin brought up his staff and smashed the end into the ground. It created a blinding green light that filled the cavern. He floated up into the air and his voice reverberated through the trollmarket.

"If you want something to believe, then believe this. I am Merlin, this is my champion, the slayer of Buhlar and Gunmar. We have come a long way to find this heartstone and we seek its shelter for the trolls with us. We will not take no for an answer."

He floated back down to the ground and the green light dimmed and extinguished. The crowd was dead silent. He picked up his staff and waited for Galerg to respond.

"THE Merlin? But how's that possible? You've been dead for-"

"Centuries. We get it. It would appear you and your fellow trolls need to be caught up on recent events. But for now, if you would allow us entry, we have some trolls to move in. Or...will that be a problem?" Merlin asked.

"Of course not, but uh, will _all_ of your group be needing to stay in our Trollmarket. Specifically this filthy fleshbag?" Galerg glanced over Claire in disgust. Jim balled his fists.

"What did you call her?" Jim walked up to Galerg and glared up at him.

"Her name is Claire Nunez. She is the one who took down Morgana and she is a trollhunter." Jim nearly snarled at him. Galerg gulped before Jim stepped back and continued. "And yes, she will be staying with us. Is that also going to be a problem?"

"Er, no, no problem at all! Let me just get my assistant started on finding room for you." Galerg said nervously, cleared his throat and then abruptly called out, "Krem!"

A few awkward moments later a medium sized troll awkwardly cut through the crowd. Sucking in his belly to pass through the trolls, but still bumped into almost everyone in his path. He was out of breath by the time he reached Galerg.

"Yes, Uncle Galerg?" He leaned over, putting his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"I told you a hundred times not to call me that."

"Sorry, Uncle Gal-I mean sir." Krem said as smoothly as he could.

Galerg moaned and continued.

"Prepare accommodations for our guests and a number of new trolls that will be staying here in the market."

"New Trolls?" Krem said.

"Are you deaf? Yes, new trolls, now get going!"

"Oh uh, yes sir." He ran back the way he came, bumping into a few more trolls in the process. Jim and Claire chuckled at Krems clumsiness.

"Good workers are hard to find these days." Galerg turned back to them.

"We'll go and bring our friends, they're not far," Jim said.

"Our market's guards will escort you up and show you the sewer passageways that are big enough to allow your troll brethren to arrive _discreetly_." Galerg directed the last part to Romkil, giving him a quick stink eye before ushering them all off.

The crowd dispersed and Galerg was left scowling at the intruders.

 _Of all the times for things to go wrong, it had to be tonight? No matter, operations will get back on schedule and soon they won't be able to stop me from getting what I want._

•^-^•


	6. What's the cave WIFI?

Sorry for the delay there is a lot and I mean A LOT of information in this chapter :) this is like two chapters in one.

I used as much canonized background info I could from the comic book Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia The Secret History of Trollkind, by Dreamworks. I highly recommend it! The rest I made up :I ...good thing this is a fanfiction and not canon. phew.

Also if you have any questions about how things look or how my OC's look, let me know and I can somewhat draw what they look like on my tumblr: ( .com)

ENJOY

* * *

 **Chapter 6: What's the cave WiFi?**

•^-^•

"Great Gronka Morka," Blinky gasped as he walked across the balcony into the massive cave and beheld the blue Heartstone.

"Pretty much," Jim said.

The rest of their company walked in and looked out on the Trollmarket with happy and relieved expressions.

Just then, Krem approached them, out of breath after climbing the many flights of stairs carved out of the side of the cavern.

"Welcome...right this way...I'll show you the...ins and outs...of our amazing...Trollmarket." Krem gasped between words still trying to catch his breath. Too tired to speak anymore, he just motioned for everyone to follow him with his hand and he turned leading the way back down the stairs.

Claire solemnly watched her feet as she and Jim followed close behind Krem. She was thinking a lot about what she did to the Nyarlagroth back in gyre tunnel. She was grateful she helped save Jim, but it didn't ease her nerves or answer her questions. How could she have used magic even though she didn't have any? What if...what if being possessed by Morgana did something to her? Could her powers her people? Could they hurt Jim? Claire furrowed her eyebrows in worry. Jim noticed her silence and looked over at her.

"Hey, you okay?" Jim asked.

"Hm? Oh, yeah just-" She faked a yawn, "-tired."

"Well you're in luck," Krem said over his shoulder. "Some of our dwellings have mattresses. They're old but good."

"I'll take whatever mattress I can get. It will be nice having a real bed," Claire admitted. A silent moment passed and Claire didn't want to go back to thinking about the incident. She changed her pace to walk next to Krem.

"So Krem, how long has this Trollmarket been around?" Claire asked a little too forcefully.

Krem held up his fingers as he counted in his head.

"Almost 400 years ago." Krem casually responded.

"Wait a moment." Blinky overheard and moved closer to Krem. "That would mean you and I arrived in America from our homeland within the same period of time," Blinky said.

"I guess?" Krem shrugged.

"To think my company and I walked right past it when we first arrived," Blinky said a little grudgingly. Then asked, "Why did you not come with us to America?"

"I didn't get to fight at The Battle of Killahead Bridge...so I volunteered to take a piece of the bridge and hide it far away. By the time I got back, our Heartstone was failing and…"

They waited in silence as they continued down the stairs. They were almost halfway down to the base of the cavern.

"Bular killed our Trollhunter...my mum," Krem said sadly.

Blinky gasped, "Are you saying you're mother was-"

"Deya The Deliverer," Claire said in amazement.

Krem glumly nodded.

"When she died, me and the trolls that stayed behind thought that Merlin's amulet disappeared with her. After that, my Uncle Galerg looked after me and decided that we should head to America too. We snuck away on some ship. The Fortune, I think? All of the trolls here left the same time we did on other ships. After the LONGEST boat ride ever, we got to New Jersey and eventually, we found our new Heartstone." Krem said gesturing to the distant yet massive illuminated blue geode, smiling again.

"I know precisely what happened to the amulet. As I and a handful of trolls were boarding a ship called the Mayflower, Deya was felled protecting us from Bular. The amulet came to us and chose Kanjigar The Courageous, as the next Trollhunter. Then, not too long ago, he was felled by Bular and the amulet chose Master Jim as the new Trollhunter," Blinky smiled proudly at Jim.

"Wow, so you have my mom's amulet?" Krem turned and briefly sniffed the amulet on Jim's chest plate. "Yep, still smells like her." He said to himself as he took the last steps down the staircase and into the Trollmarket.

Confused, Jim wondered how his amulet still had Deya-scent lingering on it but weirder things have happened.

"That's crazy to hear how you guys ended up here, but why have you stayed hidden all this time?" Jim asked.

"Bular was still out there and without a Trollhunter, we were defenseless. So we did our best to keep this place a safe haven. Very few trolls come and go. We almost never get newcomers. Romkil was the last one and that was like 10 years ago." Krem explained.

"Romkil?" Jim said.

"Yeah, they found him injured in the sewers and brought him here. He doesn't remember anything before that. Now, he's the top champion and commander of the Troll Guard."

"Troll Guard?" Claire said.

"Kind of like enforcement. They protect our Trollmarket from threats." Krem looked up and came to a stop. He turned and faced the whole group.

"Here we are, your new living quarters." Krem held out his hands dramatically towards a series of caves that dotted up a small section of the cavern. There were stone staircases that led to each cave room. Kind of like a misshapen apartment building carved into the side of a rock wall. The trolls began to separate and claim their own rooms.

"Thanks for finding space for us," Jim said.

"It's the least I can do after everything you've done."

Krem looked down and kicked a stone across the ground.

"Is it true? Bular's really gone?" Krem asked.

"Yeah. We made sure of it." Jim assured.

"Good," Krem said as he glared at the ground. He felt a satisfaction at the thought that the monster that killed his mom was dead. Remembering Jim, Claire and Blinky were still standing in front of him, Krem brushed off the last of his inner vengeance.

"Anyway, if you'd like, I can give you a tour of the rest of Trollmarket?" Krem said enthusiastically.

"I would be very interested in a tour," Merlin walked up behind Krem and interjected. "Specifically a tour of your Blacksmiths shop?"

"Of course. We have a great blacksmith, I'll take you to him."

•^-^•

"Ah, a proper blacksmith's," Merlin said as they entered a shop with a billows roaring with heat.

"Will this be...good enough?" Krem asked not sure what else to say about a blacksmith shop.

"Yes, indeed. Much better than the last one I used." Merlin said.

Jim raised an eyebrow not amused because the last one Merlin used was his garage.

"Then I'm more than sure Snaros will be happy to show you his process because I know nothing about smithing," Krem admitted.

Who's Snaros?" Claire asked.

"I'm Snaros," He said bluntly as he blundered through them. Bringing in scrap metal over his shoulder. He was a squat troll with brownish troll skin.

"Mm, I like him already," Merlin said quietly to them.

"My fine fellow, could I ask you a few questions?" Merlin said to the troll as he moved away from his companions.

Jim could tell that Merlin was done with the tour and figured it would be okay if they moved on.

"So do you guys have a Hero's Forge?" Jim said.

"A what?" Krem said.

"An area in which one or more would gather to spar and practice fighting skills," Blinky said.

"We have a training area for the Troll Guard? Here, I'll show you." Jim, Claire, and Blinky followed Krem out of the Blacksmiths, past some market booths and into a short tunnel that led to a secondary cave. In it were some of the trolls that they met in the park, the Troll Guard. Two were sparring each other using both fists and blades as they fought. Romkil was coaching them, shouting commands to improve their offense and defense against each other. The cavern was lit by glowing crystals in the rock walls. On the stone floor was a giant circle carved into its surface.

Claire watched as one of the trolls punched the other right in the chest. Immediately, her memory flashed back to the Nyarlagroth getting hit in the chest by her shot of magic. Panic overwhelmed her momentarily and she took a step back. Fortunately, Jim didn't see. She let out a shaky breath as she quickly recovered. She needed to sort this out.

"You know what, I think I'm gonna go and get some rest, you go on with the tour without me." She fake yawned again.

"You sure?" Jim asked. Jim felt something off in the way she acted. It seemed to him that she was trying to spend less time with him since they arrived in New Jersey. Jim shook the thought off and tried to reason that it had only been a day since they arrived and that maybe she really was tired.

"Yeah, maybe you can give me the rest of the tour in the morning." Claire tilted her head toward Jim.

The small movement she made for some reason gave Jim butterflies in his chest. He suddenly realized that now that they weren't traveling anymore he would have more time to spend with Claire. He smiled, looking forward to doing somewhat normal stuff with her. He held her hand.

"Alright. Sleep well." Jim paused a moment and leaned down and gave her a kiss in the cheek. A few of the Troll Guard that weren't watching the fight saw them and made noises of disgust, but Jim didn't care.

Claire, on the other hand, blushed with happy embarrassment. He's kissed her before. Before he became a troll, that is. And once on the cheek after his transformation, but not in front of so many strangers. Yet, she was pretty sure she wouldn't mind if he did that again. But her happiness quickly ebbed, replaced with her fear of her unknown powers. She let go of Jim's hand.

"I will. See you in the morning." Claire nervously smiled. She quickly turned and walked away. As she rounded a market corner she saw Nomura walking towards her.

"Have you seen that bumbling guide. I heard there was a fighting area, but I can't find it." Nomura asked stopping Claire.

"It's over there." Claire pointed, worry still shadowing her face.

"Thanks." She paused and looked Claire over. "By the way, when are you going to tell your boyfriend about that magic trick you pulled back in the tunnel?" She casually said.

"What, you saw!?" Claire panicked. She glanced over her shoulder, making sure Jim wasn't around.

"You'd have to be blind to miss it, or just be the Trollhunter," Nomura remarked.

"Please don't tell Jim," Claire begged.

"Like hiding that power will make it go away?" Nomura said.

Claire sighed. "No, I just...I just need to understand what's happening to me before I worry Jim with this. He's already gone through a lot." She paused unsure of what to do.

"Ugh, I won't tell him, but perhaps you should talk with Merlin at least. He does know more about magic than the both of us." Nomura said trying not to sound like she cared at all. Claire thought a moment.

"It's better than nothing," Claire admitted. "Thanks, Nomura, you really helped me out."

"Let's not get gushy about it." Nomura half smiled as she walked the direction of the Troll Guard training area.

Claire stood there a moment and took a deep breath to fight back her fears. Finally, she willed her legs to walk the direction of the blacksmiths.

•^-^•

Jim, Blinky, and Krem continued to watch the two troll guards' fight. As one of the trolls yielded to the other, Nomura walked in.

"This is their training grounds?" Nomura said as she walked up next to Jim, not impressed. "No wonder they had their butts handed to them. They probably fall asleep from how boring their fights get."

"How about we not insult the ones letting us live here," Jim whispered seriously to Nomura.

'Whatever." Nomura folded her arms.

Another two trolls took to the center of the circle.

"Fight!" Romkil yelled to begin the spar. As Nomura watched she grew bored.

"They call this fighting? A pity they don't know what real fighting is." She said.

Krem raised an eyebrow.

"Well, what does real fighting look like?" Krem asked curiously.

"Finishing off the other person, of course," Nomura said smugly.

"You have an interesting definition of fighting," Krem remarked.

"What's your definition then?" She baited. Krem thought a moment.

"A real fight doesn't always need to be fought with fists. Winning a real fight is when perspectives are changed." Krem said.

Jim and Nomura were both surprised at the deep answer.

"Hm, well you got the first part right, I prefer to fight with blades." She said and chuckled as if remembering happy memories with her scimitars.

"You know you would make a great troll guard, a dog ready to fight whatever their commander tells them to." Krem may have yelled a little too loud. Just about everyone in the training area heard Krem's comment.

Krem's eyes widened in shock as everyone stopped and looked at him.

"Uh, I was talking about the other Troll Guard…" Krem said. Then he sped walked out of the training area. Leaving behind an awkward silence.

Nomura rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Well someone's got issues."

The troll guard returned to their fight.

"Like I said boring," Nomura said watching the fight.

"Perhaps what these training grounds need is a little more risk in the environment. Like that of the Hero's Forge." Blinky said.

 _Maybe someday we can turn this into a new hero's forge._ Jim liked the thought. He felt like this Trollmarket really could become their new home.

"Yield!" A Troll Guard yelled out as one of the bigger trolls had him in an arm bind.

"I can't take this any longer. You call this fighting? There is no yielding in a fight." Nomura said loudly.

"Nomura, what are you doing?" Blinky whispered harshly.

"It sounds like you're volunteering to demonstrate for us what you have in mind." The biggest troll of the group said from the sidelines.

"Why yes, I would be delighted to show you," Nomura said.

The troll looked over to Romkil and he nodded in allowance.

"Yeftar, Wayok, to the sidelines. Let them fight." Romkil said slightly amused.

The two trolls went to the outside of the fight circle with the rest of the Troll Guard and the big troll stepped in. Nomura took out her scimitars in her hands and stepped into the circle as well.

"We have only been here an hour and already one of us has found their way into trouble," Blinky said.

"Old habits die hard?" Jim shrugged his shoulders. Jim and Blinky came and stood by Romkil on the outside of the circle.

"Ready. Fight!" Romkil yelled.

Nomura and the big troll clashed. All the big troll had was a knife to defend himself but he did well to fight off Nomura's double scimitar slices.

"You're friend fights well," Romkil commented. "She _would_ make a great addition to the Troll Guard."

"I don't know how much of a team player she would be, but you're welcome to try and ask her," Jim said honestly.

"When the time comes then…Where did she receive her training?" Romkil asked.

"I don't know, the Janus order maybe?" Jim said.

Romkil continued to watch the fight for a moment and then asked, "What is the Janus Order?"

"It's a secret society of changelings, or was."

"Was?"

"Gunnar kind of demolished their base and all the changelings in it," Jim responded. Romkil paused a moment.

"I'm sorry to hear the death of so many. Tell me, you said you started your journey in California?"

"Yeah, Arcadia Oaks. My hometown."

Romkil didn't respond. Jim glanced over to see why he went silent. Romkil's expression was hard, almost unreadable, except Jim got the feeling that he was impacted by this information somehow. Before Jim could ask Romkil anything, Nomura made a final attack on the huge troll guard by knocking him into the side of the small cavern, head first, and he fell unconscious.

"Thank you for that demonstration. That will be all for today. Training is over." He called out almost monotoned, declaring the match ended. Romkil turned and abruptly walked out of the cave, not talking to anyone on his way out. Nomura approached Jim and Blinky, sheathing her scimitars.

"Now that was fighting," Nomura said as she let out a sigh of content.

"Romkil is quite a reserved fellow. I hope Nomura's victory didn't set him at odds with us." Blinky said to Jim as the Troll Guard dispersed out of the cave.

"Hm, probably just a sore loser. He'll get over it." Nomura said.

•^-^•

 _Inside the Heartstone_

"This changes everything," Romkil said as he leaned against a giant crystal in Galerg's office.

"Not everything," Galerg said with anger in his tone. "Just because the Trollhunter shows up, it doesn't mean that we have to change our plans."

"But with news of Bular, Gunmar, and Morgana's death, not to mention the fall of the Janus Headquarters, it will only be a matter of time before-."

"Have you forgotten what it is that I've done for you? Do you really want _all_ of the truth to come out?" Galerg said.

Romkil clenched his jaw in frustration.

"I have not forgotten. All I'm trying to say is that with the Trollhunter here we need to be careful."

"We will be. Unless, your doubt will make you careless and _disposable_." Galerg threatened.

Romkil stared into Galerg's icy eyes and looked down to the ground.

"Good," Galerg said as he walked out of his office, leaving Romkil alone.


	7. Answers

Alright people (yes all 30 of you), I'm finally going to start posting more consistently every Thursday! *insert Kermit the frog yaaaaaaay* Now for the moment I nearly forgot to lead up to.

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Answers**

•^-^•

After the Troll Guard training was over, it was Blinky's turn to decide the next place on their now guide-less tour. Although Krem walked off, and Nomura went to do her own thing, Jim and Blinky figured it wouldn't be too hard to find the library. Blinky was curious to dive more into the history of this Trollmarket, albeit short in troll years, but should be a riveting read. As they asked around the Trollmarket they were met with confused and clueless reactions. Many of the trolls didn't know what a library was or what books were. This infuriated Blinky.

"Am I to presume that there are no records or texts anywhere in this market!" He said fuming.

"Relax, Blink, I'm sure they're some books and stuff somewhere," Jim said.

"Did you say books?" A plump old troll with orange fur said from behind her booth. Blinky hastily approached the troll.

"Yes, have you seen any?" Blink desperately asked.

The orange troll hacked a loogie before she pointed towards a formation of rocks across the market.

"Around the rocks, second cave on your left. Stumbled upon it one day. Thought it was a toilet. Smells like one. But has some of those book things in them,"

"Thank you, my kind troll," Blinky said as he was already jogging the direction the troll pointed.

They knew they found the cave by the smell. Pretty sure trolls did use it as a toilet.

"My word, this is unacceptable!" Blinky held his nose as they walked into the cave it was dimly lit with glowing geodes and had a few shelves carved into the side of the cave wall and some more only half finished. There were two books. One about a very brief one-page history of events at this Trollmarket, which was only of new trolls born and a short-lived rebellion to get argyle socks or nothing. The other book was about how to grow mushrooms.

"There are no words to describe how disappointed I am right now," Blinky said in disbelief.

"It's okay Blinky, maybe you'll be the one to help get this library up and running. Possibly teach the other trolls about the history from our troll market."

"That is a splendid idea Master Jim! I must get to work immediately! Good thing I brought my supplies." Blinky jogged out of the room without another word.

"Uh, you do that. I'll just…" Jim said awkwardly. As much as he would love to help Blinky meticulously write a book, he would rather do other things. Like seeing Claire.

His shoulders slumped as he remembered that she was probably already asleep.

At that moment he felt a little lost. He'd been running on survival mode for the last 2 weeks and now there was nothing for him to do.

He placed his hand on his chest and tapped the metal plate as he thought of his options. As looked down at his hand and inspected his amulet...his amulet. Jim instantly recalled Merlin saying he would tell Jim more about his suit and the amulet when they reached the Heartstone. Well, Heartstone reached. Now it was time for some answers.

After only getting lost once, Jim found the Blacksmiths. Merlin was near the entrance when he welcomed Jim.

"Wonderful timing Trollhunter," Merlin said amused.

"What?"

"Just an expression. What can I do for you?"

"Well, I came because I want the answers you promised me about my armor," Jim said.

Merlin smiled and motioned for Jim to follow.

"This way," Merlin said.

Merlin led Jim further into the shop and towards a table. On it were some sketches in charcoal of what looked like a short totem pole to Jim.

"What does a statue have to do with my armor?" Jim said confused.

"This will be no ordinary statue. This will be the Soothscryer for this Trollmarket."

"Like the Soosthscryer at the other one?"

"Indeed."

"That's great, but I still don't understand how this applies," Jim said. Merlin took a breath before he began.

"When I made the amulet. I put a safeguard in it. If the Trollhunter were to go through a transformation, which would be brought about only in the most desperate of circumstances. Circumstances in which the fate of the world depended on. Then the amulet's safeguard would activate in case anything were to happen to the Trollhunter after the transformation. When you underwent your transformation from human to half-troll, that initiated the amulet's safeguard, to separate itself into two pieces. One, of course, remained with you, and the other went to The Void."

"The Void?" Jim said. "Like with Kanjigar and the other dead Trollhunters?"

"Yes and to remain there until the Trollhunter were to retrieve it or if the Trollhunter died, someone worthy to retrieve it in the void. The safest place to keep the amulet from being destroyed," Merlin added.

Jim looked down at his Amulet.

"So because I don't have the whole amulet, that's why I can't take the armor off?"

"Precisely." Merlin

"Wow, this is great!" Jim said excitedly. Then he thought a moment.

"Why keep this from me? You could have said something when I first asked." Jim said.

"I wanted to ensure that I could follow through and have the materials to properly make the Soothscryer before I promised you anything." Merlin admitted.

"Still, it would have been nice knowing about my amulet sooner," Jim said.

"Ha, if I told you everything you thought you ought to know right now then you might combust." Merlin laughed.

"Should I be scared or laugh at that comment?"

"Whichever you prefer." Merlin chucked. Then Merlin paused and put his hand on Jim's shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

"Jim, I know it was hard on you, what with the transformation and leaving your home, but I really am indebted to you for the sacrifices that you made to ensure the safety of this world."

"Thanks." Jim appreciated the sincerity. It was nice to be reminded that Merlin wasn't always a buttsnack.

"Now I just need to find a spot to put our Soothscryer." Merlin said to himself looking at the drawing.

"I know just the place." Jim smiled.

•^-^•


	8. Secrets

**Chapter 8: Secrets**

•^^•

Claire dashed through the market at top speed. She dodged around trolls and down aisles of vendors. Cutting behind market tables, she leaped over bins of junk and foul smelling socks. She ran steadfastly until she reached her destination. Claire stopped at the entrance, trying to catching her breath.

"You're late," Merlin said blatantly. He was turned away, sticking a metal rod in the hot furnace.

"Sorry," Claire huffed. "I had to take the long way here."

"Ah, still avoiding the Trollhunter, are you?"

"I'm not avoiding him...I'm just making sure he doesn't see me coming here all the time," She said hesitantly as she stood tall and faced Merlin.

Though she kinda had been avoiding Jim all week. When she wasn't having lessons with Merlin she would go to the surface and try to pass the time until night so she could use the "sorry I'm tired" excuse and go to bed. Claire felt bad keeping her powers a secret from Jim, but she still couldn't burden him with them. Even with Jim relieving the burden of knowing that he won't have to wear his armor all the time, she didn't want her new powers to take its place. He needs a break.

"Of course you are," Merlin said sarcastically. "Now, shall we?" Merlin motioned to the back of the blacksmiths were there was an additional room.

In the room was Merlin's workshop. Snarlos agreed to let him use the space so he wouldn't "dirty up the shop". Merlin's workshop was already filling up with bizarre trinkets, oddities and some "personal projects" that he would only say weren't ready yet. Merlin and Claire walked in.

"I know it has only been a week since we started these lessons, but seeing that you have read all my books and have already mastered the spoken tongue of the ancients. I believe you are ready to begin learning how to direct the flow of your magic into an offensive deflector."

"What does that mean exactly?"

"What would you call it? A force-shield? Yes. You will learn to create a 'force-shield' to block a blow from an enemy." Merlin said casually.

"No sweat," Claire said taking a deep breath and was possibly starting to sweat already.

Claire remembered how, a week ago, she went and talked to Merlin about the sudden appearance of her powers. She related to him what happened with the Nyarlagroth in the gyre tunnel. When she finished, Merlin straightway said he already knew she had magic. He admitted he missed getting to see Claire strike the Nyarlagroth, but that something like that was bound to happen. Confused, Claire asked how he knew. Merlin explained that when he first saw her in his tomb after he had awoken from his slumber, he could sense she had magic. It was only when she showed her Grandmother's necklace to him that it was confirmed that the magic was in her bloodline. The intricate designs in the necklace where those of wizardry design. Claire still couldn't believe that he was basically saying that her father's side of the family were wizards. But a faint memory came to mind of when she last visited her Abuelita in Mexico. She recalled how her grandma always knew who was at the door before they even knocked. Or maybe that was just normal for her Abuelita.

Merlin continued by saying that for people with magic in their bloodline, that if they don't learn to use magic, they can lose it and live normal boring lives, like Claire's father. He went on to explain that when Claire was using the staff and when she was possessed by Morgana, those events roused her magic. It wasn't until in the gyre tunnel, when Claire experienced strong emotions to save Jim, that it finally awoke her magic and initiated the spell to blast the creature away.

After a moment to absorb everything. Claire asked if she could learn to control it. Merlin said that with training and practice she could learn to harness and control her power. She asked if he would teach her. He bluntly said no. Saying that he would be far too busy. Yet, Claire won all too easily when she convinced him that she would be able to help him with whatever projects he had. Merlin admitted that he could use an apprentice in the tasks ahead. Merlin agreed and said that he would teach her at noon every day. Claire thanked him and gave him a hug, relieved to be finding a solution to her problem. Merlin didn't enjoy the hug too much but enjoyed the prospect of having a pupil to teach. Claire asked that Merlin keep their lessons a secret until she was ready to tell Jim. He agreed but cautioned that it would not end well the longer she waited to tell him. Then he suddenly told her that Jim was 10 seconds away and about to either the blacksmiths. Claire hadn't ran that fast in a while. Luckily she got out in time to see Jim enter and-

"Excuse me, if you're done daydreaming, let us begin," Merlin said.

"Oh. Yeah, I'm ready." Claire said returning to the present.

"Nolamgot hetam ah pree," Merlin said calmly as he held up his hands. Magic green light seeped from his hands and formed a curved circular barrier in front on him.

"See, simple." Merlin lowered his hands and the shield evaporated. "Now you give it a go. Close your eyes and concentrate on these words. Nolamgot hetam ah pree." Merlin said.

Claire closed her eyes tightly and hesitantly lifted her hand in front of her. Reading about this spell in one of Merlin's books had been exciting for her, but performing it, was nerve-racking. What if she got it wrong?

"Nolamgot-hetam-ah-pree!" Claire blurted out.

Purple light immediately seeped out of Claire's hands and a shield began to form. Quickly, however, the shield was growing bigger and bigger.

"Merlin how do I get it to stop!?" She yelled as the shield started to expand.

"Stop panicking, you'll remember."

Fear was overwhelming Claire and her mind was drawing a blank. She couldn't think how to stop it.

The shield kept expanding enough to start crunching the shelves on both sides of the room. The shelves moaned as they kept getting pushed against the wall. After one shelve broke Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Very well," Merlin said. He grabbed both her wrists and pushed them down. The shield immediately dissipated.

Claire dropped to her knees, taking quick breaths.

"You need to control your emotions," Merlin said stating the obvious.

"I..I don't know why I'm like this." Claire clenched her hands into fists. Anger rose inside her as she felt failure from not being able to do a simple spell.

"Ugh, this is so stupid why am I so scared?" She said frustrated.

Merlin held out his hand and helped her up. Then he started to stroke his beard as he thought.

"Perhaps it is because you have learned too well to anchor your negative emotions and memories into your shadow castings in the past?"

Claire remembered how she did use anger and fear many times to use the shadow staff.

"No matter, we will go again. As they say, 'second time's the charm'."

"It's 'third time's the charm'," Claire corrected.

"Why on earth would it take so much as three times to do something when it should only take two?" Merlin said.

Claire let out a sigh.

She took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. She held up her hands focusing on any good memory she had to anchor her emotions. She remembered her family, her brother, her friends, and Jim. She pushed the memory of the Nyarlagroth out and replaced it with memories of visiting Trollmarket for the first time with Jim and Toby, playing in her band with Darcy and Mary, and of the Vespa ride Jim took her on during Spring Fling. The memory of their brief dance came flooding back. She could remember vividly the lookout point and the way Jim spun her around to his music. When it was just the two of them, no monsters, so magic, just them. A smile traced her lips and she opened her eyes.

"Nolamgot hetam ah pree."

•^^•


	9. Date Night Part 1

So what I meant by updating every Thursday, was that I will update every Saturday. It works better with school.

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Date Night Part 1**

•^^•

Jim looked out over the Trollmarket from the balcony by the main entrance. It was just a week ago that he walked onto that balcony for the first time.

During the time since Jim was beginning to get used to the routine he made. He would spar with Romkil and the other trolls in the Troll Guard arena. Help Blinky with the new library, although he didn't feel much like rewriting troll history. Luckily, Krem came around and volunteered to help with that. Krem was actually a Trollhunter history buff. Then there was trying to figure out ways to find moments with Claire. He rarely saw her anymore.

It was killing him not spending time with her. Besides quick words in passing, he barely got to talk with her. She was avoiding him. He was sure of it, but he wasn't sure why, or what was wrong, or how to fix it. Maybe getting his armor off might help? Jim brushed the thought aside. He didn't see how it would change anything, but maybe it might loosen things up a little? This is ridiculous.

Jim paced some more before he walked over and leaned against the corner banister of the balcony. As he did so he heard his phone go off.

Jim pulled out his phone and looked at the screen. He had one bar of service.

Surprised, he moved his phone away from where he stood and lost the signal. Then he brought his phone back and the signal returned.

"Sweet, service," Jim said to himself. Until now, he had to go above ground and stand a few feet from the bridge to get any service. He checked his notifications.

 ** _24 Unread messages from: Toby_**

 ** _1 Unread message from: Mom_**

He looked at the messages from Toby first.

As he scrolled, all the texts said 'Bored' repeatedly.

 _Wow, Tobes must be having fun in Arcadia,_ Jim thought.

Then, the last most recent 3 messages said:

 ** _Jim!_**

 ** _Call me!_**

 ** _Like ASAP!_**

He dialed Toby's number, still surprised he had enough reception to call. It rang 2 times before Toby picked up.

"JIM!" Toby said loud enough to make Jim pull the phone away from his ear.

"Hey Tobes what's up?" Jim asked.

"JIM! ALIENS EXIST! And they are NOT like E.T!" Toby yelled.

"What? Tobes what's are you talking about?"

"You remember those foreign exchange students Krel and Aja?"

"Of course, they're not easy to forget," Jim said jokingly.

"Yeah they're aliens from another planet!"

"...why am I not surprised?" Jim said.

"And now space bounty hunters keep coming to Arcadia and-" A loud crashing sound cut Toby off.

"What was that?" Jim asked.

"Psh, oh that? That was nothing. You know what, I'm gonna call you later. Bye!" Toby hung up.

Jim stood there for a moment a little shocked at the news of aliens in Arcadia. Before he could think more about it he heard a voice call out from behind him.

"Trollhunter," Romkil greeted as he emerged from the doorway onto the balcony. Three Troll Guard followed him but turned and started to descend the stairs together. Romkil walked over to Jim.

"What brings you up here?" Romkil asked as he stood beside Jim.

"Just thinking," Jim said as he leaned his back against the balcony banister.

Romkil bent over and rested his elbows on the rock banister. He looked out over the Trollmarket.

"On what do you think of?" Romkil asked.

 _Amulet. Claire. Aliens. Claire...and Claire._

"Uh, just thinking about home." Jim lied.

"Homesick are you?"

Jim thought a moment.

"A little," Jim said truthfully.

"Tell me more of your home, what's it like?" Romkil asked curiously.

"Well, Arcadia is like your average city, except more prone to danger," Jim said with a smile. "The High School wasn't terrible, but it's not I'll be going back anytime soon, or ever," Jim said a little crestfallen before he continued. "What I miss the most are my friends Toby and AAARRRGGHH!. I also miss my mom a lot." Jim said sadly.

"You were human before, weren't you?" Romkil said.

Jim's brows rose in slight surprise. Had he not mentioned that when they sparred? Romkil was good at noticing small things.

"What gave it away?" Jim said amused.

"Let's see, besides your mannerisms and words, which are very human-like. You have that phone devise and there's the human girlfriend to top it all off." Romkil said matter-of-factly.

"Good deduction. Yeah, I was just a normal teenager until I found Merlin's amulet. It was hard, but also fun being the first human Trollhunter. Until Morgana and Gunmar were about to unleash the Eternal Night." Jim paused and took a deep breath remembering that events that unfolded to that point. Romkil looked over at him watchfully. "I made a choice. I gave up my normal life to save the people I love. I was transformed into a troll. Or half-troll I guess. And if I hadn't of done that. We would have lost." Jim said solemnly.

"Sounds like a big sacrifice for one so young to make. To be away from friends and your mother."

"It's alright, I call Tobes a lot and talk with my Mom almost every day. Plus, I got Blinky and...Claire, here". Jim tried to hide the doubt in his voice but failed.

"Uh, I take it things are...difficult between you two? Romkil said awkwardly, trying to figure out how to approach the subject.

"You could say that. I don't know. She's been distant lately. I'm worried she might be having second thoughts about being here." Jim admitted.

Romkil thought briefly.

"I've heard of this strange human ritual called 'dating' that I think might help with this situation," Romkil said.

"I don't think springing a date on Claire will change much. I mean, isn't giving her space supposed to help?"

"Jim, Love is action. If you don't act, that love you two have will wither and die. You have given her room, now it is time to take action."

Jim felt his heart give a confirmation that maybe taking some action was what he needed to do next.

"Just think on it and you'll know what to do," Romkil reassured.

"Thanks, Romkil. I will." Jim smiled, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders.

Suddenly, Jim's phone started ringing.

"Hang on a sec," Jim said to Romkil as he pulled out his phone.

Jim looked at his screen to see who was calling. It was his mom, a picture of Barbara lit up the phone while it rang. Romkil looked over and caught a glance at the screen. He did a double take.

"Sorry, I gotta take this, it's my mom," Jim said as he hit accept.

Romkil didn't move, his expression unreadable.

"Hey Mom."

"Hey kiddo, how are things going? Any luck with Claire?"

"About the same. But hey I was talking with Romkil, the head of the Troll Guard, and he actually suggested…" When Jim turned to look to Romkil, he was gone.

"Suggested what?" Barbara asked.

Jim wondered why Romkil left so quickly but turned his attention back to his mom.

He related Romkil's suggestion to try and take Claire on a date. Barbara agreed that a date would probably help at this point.

After he finished the call with his Mom he was determined to take Claire on a date that she couldn't resist. Now all Jim had to do was figure out what that date would be. After more pacing and internal debating, an idea struck.

•^^•


	10. Date Night Part 2

**Chapter 10: Date Night Part 2**

•^^•

Claire sat at a computer in the Bellridge public library. She made it a habit to go to the library every day and research more about Merlin. Most of her searches led to popular movies, tv shows, and books, but with more refined searches, she found information that sounded similar to what Merlin had told her. Claire also read up on all Merlin folklore she could so she could ask Merlin what was real or not. She would always laugh whenever Merlin got offended by some myths she would ask were true. Like the one that said that he and Morgana were lovers. Merlin nearly blew up the Blacksmiths when he heard that one. She made sure to ask less personal questions from then on. That day, she read about Merlin's enemies. Morgana, of course, was number one on the list. Then, on one website it shared how a man named Mordred was also an enemy to Merlin. It said that he was the one that killed King Arthur.

"I'll have to ask Merlin about him." Claire closed the browser and logged off the computer.

Claire stepped out of the library, the setting sun casting a pinkish haze to the clouds. She thought about her magic as she walked back to the park. By the end of her lesson with Merlin, she performed the shield spell perfectly. It was still hard and drained her, but she was able to control her magic. The fear she felt of being out of control was gone and replaced with a hope of improvement and maybe even helping people with her magic. She also thought about Jim. After the success of her magic lesson that day, she felt that maybe it was time to tell Jim.

Claire reached the park and walked under the overpass. She pulled out her horngozle and drew an arch in the side wall. Stone fragments broke apart, opening up the doorway for Claire to walk through. She descended the stairs as the doorway stone fragments reorganized themselves into the sturdy rock wall it was before.

Her foot stepped off the last of the many steps and she walked through the long stone-carved tunnel which led to a turn that opened up onto the balcony.

Claire noticed movement and a shadow spread over the floor at the end of the corridor. Someone was walking in from the balcony. As she walked closer, the shadow's shape looked like it could belong to Jim. But the angle of the light from the cavern was distorting it, making it look tiny.

"Jim? Is that you?" She called out

"Claire?" Jim answered. His shadow halted.

Claire smiled. She sped up and rounded the corner. "I wanted to talk-" Claire stopped and gasped.

Standing halfway between her and the balcony entrance was Jim. Regular, normal, not a troll, but human Jim.

"Oh, hey. What do you think? Pretty cris-" He was cut off by Claire.

"Who are you and where is Jim!" She almost yelled.

"Woah, woah, take it easy." Human Jim quickly moved his hand to his jawline and pulled. Suddenly, a burst of light blinded Claire and Jim, troll and armor, stood before her, holding the glamour mask in his hand. "Its me." Jim said cautiously.

Claire let out a huff, "You gave me a heart attack. I thought you were some evil doppelganger or something." She said, her surprise dying down. She walked up and snatched the glamour mask out of his hands.

"Why would you scare me like that?" She said annoyed holding up the mask.

"I wasn't trying to scare you. I was…." He said a little embarrassed.

"What?" Claire said a little mad.

"I was going to ask you on a date," Jim said sheepishly.

Claire's brows rose. _A date?_ Claire thought to their last date and it was cut short by Morgana possessing her. That felt like a lifetime ago.

"You were going to ask me out on a date?" She said. She couldn't stop the corners of her lips from turning up.

"Yeah, I thought, since our last one was pretty much a disaster, that maybe we could try again." Jim shrugged, but kept his eyes watchfully on her's.

"I…" She stopped and thought a moment.

For once there wasn't anyone trying to kill them and now that her magic was somewhat in control there was nothing that could get in the way, except her.

She looked up into Jim's eyes and came to her decision. She smiled.

"A date sounds nice." Claire felt like this was exactly what she needed to make it up to Jim after she ditched him the past week.

"Really? Awesome!" Jim said excitedly. She handed back the glamour mask, he slipped it on and changed back into human Jim.

"So...shall we then?" Jim said with a half smile and held out his hand to Claire.

Claire was nervous to touch him, mainly because she wasn't sure if her magic would react to him. A silly but true thought. She slowly took his hand and let out a sigh of relief as nothing happened.

"By the way, I hope you're not planning on wearing that thing all night. I would hate to kiss a mask." She said trying to sound confident, yet nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'll make a note of that." Jim grinned as he softly entwined his fingers with hers and they walked up the stairs to the surface.

•^^•

They turned the corner from the diner they just ate at. Well, Claire was the one that mostly ate. Jim snuck a few silverware to nibble on. Besides that, they had a good time and he managed not to pull the seat out from under her when he was helping Claire with her chair. Jim was feeling pretty confident that the date might just turn out to be a normal one. Then he hoped he didn't just jinx it.

As they walked in silence Jim stole a glance at Claire. She was smiling and looking up at the sky. Jim looked up at the sky too. It was dark, but the stars were starting to come out. Jim smiled at the simplicity of the moment. He was walking side by side with the girl of his dreams enjoying a starry night. Nothing weird or strange about it.

Jim walked a little closer to Claire and his hand brushed hers. After a moment he reached and took her hand. Jim felt her hand grip his in return and gave a light squeeze. The butterfly sensation filled Jim's chest. She reached her other hand over and hugged his arm, pulling herself closer to him. Now Jim felt like a million butterflies were having a rave in his chest.

"This is nice," She said contently. She wanted this night to never end.

Then, Claire's mind returned to the secret she'd been keeping from Jim. She didn't want to ruin the date by revealing her sudden magic powers. So to push the thought aside she determined to tell him tomorrow.

All of a sudden Jim tugged Claire right into an alleyway.

Claire let her hand drop from his arm and looked around.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"You'll see." Jim said tenderly.

He led her into a multi-level parking garage at the end of the alley. They climbed a few flights of stairs and eventually came out on the top level that was open to the starry night sky. He pulled her to a corner of the parking garage. Claire smiled. From the view, she could see the beautiful skyline of Bellridge city and further.

"Wow," She said in awe. It was more lit up than Arcadia and there was a river that snaked through the city into a bay.

A flash of light came from behind her and Claire felt a big rough hand slip into hers. She smiled and looked up. She found Jim, the real Jim, blue skin and all, standing beside her. He set the mask on the cement barrier. He looked out over the city.

"This _is_ nice," Jim agreed.

Without warning, Claire snaked her arms around his waist and hugged him as tight as she could. The armor didn't exactly make it the most comfortable hug but she didn't mind. Jim smiled and gently hugged her back.

"Thanks, for all this, it's perfect," Claire lovingly said. After a moment Jim responded.

"Well, almost perfect," Jim said.

Claire glanced up confused, she saw Jim pull out his phone. He fiddled with it until a song started to play.

Her eyes lit up, it was the song he played when he took her to the lookout point during Spring Fling.

Jim set his phone down next to the Glamour Mask and took Claire's hands in his. She smiled as he led her different directions with the music. Sometimes doing silly steps, but eventually transitioned into a slow-dance swaying side to side. He spun her out and she turned back in and they continued their slow dance until the song ended.

Claire looked up into Jim's eyes, love building up inside of her. Jim didn't think he could love her any more than he already did, but sharing this moment, this night with her made it possible.

Jim glanced down at her lips and slowly leaned in closer to Claire. He pulled her in and as he did so, Claire lifted herself onto her tiptoes and craned her neck up to his face.

Their lips met and collided in a deep long-awaited kiss. Jim's lips were course against hers, but they didn't lack in movement as they moved against her lips. Claire felt her cheeks blush, but that didn't stop her from wrapping her arms around his neck. Jim put his arms around Claire and pulled her up off the ground. Claire's lips brushed up against one of Jim's fangs that jutted up from his mouth. Jim's lips stopped moving for a moment in hesitation, but Claire wasn't ready for their kiss to end. She quickly pushed her lips against his. It took Jim an instant to process her action and he kissed her back in full force. The corners of Claire's lips turned up at the thought that Jim was holding back before. After a few moments, their kiss slowed to one last simultaneous movement. Jim brought his mouth away from Claire's and pressed his forehead tenderly to hers. Claire brushed her nose against his and let out a blissful breath.

"Now, it's perfect," Claire whispered.

Jim released a built-up sigh and hugged her a little tighter, but not enough to crush her.

He was happy. He didn't have anything to fear anymore. Claire was here and Jim felt sure that she wasn't going anywhere.

Jim set her down and they walked back to the rooftop corner. They looked out over the city and the stars, arms around each other, and smiles on their faces.

They stayed there for a while. Jim built up the courage to ask Claire why she was distant the past week. She replied that she needed time to adjust to the new surroundings, which was partially true. After a few other conversations, Claire gave a small yawn. Jim noticed and tilted his head at Claire.

"Sounds like we better get you to bed. Wouldn't want to keep you past curfew," He teased.

"Ha ha. I'll have you know I'm a grown-up now and can set my bedtime whenever I want." She teased back.

"Well, it happens to be past my bedtime so I better get going. Hm, but I also happen to hate walking alone at night. Would you mind walking me home?" He jokingly asked.

Claire knew he only needed about an hour of sleep with the heartstone giving him energy, but she was a little tired so she decided not to protest.

"It would be my pleasure." She chuckled. As they turned to go a sudden cold feeling rushed over her. She gasped. It was the same feeling she got whenever Angor Rot would appear through a portal. Claire spun around frantically. It was also the feeling she got when she saw Morgana face to face.

"Claire? What is it?" Jim asked seriously.

"I just thought I...saw someone." She stared down at a nearby cluster of trees by the street.

"Hm." Jim scanned the trees too.

"It was probably nothing. Let's go," Claire said trying to soothe her nerves. She started walking towards the parking garage stairwell.

Jim looked over the trees again. He glanced over his shoulder at Claire and wondered if there was still something else going on with her. Brushing it off, Jim put on the Glamour Mask and caught up with Claire.

•^^•

They walked down the cavern steps into the Trollmarket. Claire put the cold sensation she felt at the parking garage out of her mind and they talked about random things as they traveled. Like, why the color of the Heartstone was blue or when they thought Papa Skull might put out their next album. They made their way to their cave apartments and climbed the stone steps to Claire's room which was the only cave with a makeshift curtain. Which was there until she could get a real door.

Before they reached her room, Claire tugged Jim's hand to stop him. He turned and looked at her.

"What is it?" Jim asked.

Claire felt the pull to be honest with Jim. He did nothing but be real with her all night. He deserved to know.

"I-" Claire was cut off by a sound, one that came from inside her supposedly empty room.

They both turned and looked at the curtain. Only NotEnrique would go into her room, but they just passed him in the Troll Pub. Claire looked at Jim and shook her head in a way that said 'no one's supposed to be in there'. Jim held out his hand and the Eclipse Blade materialized into it.

Jim and Claire slowly approached the curtain. Jim got closer to the doorway and listened in on the intruder. He could hear them rifling through something.

Jim looked over to Claire beside him and he mouthed to her that they would rush in on his signal. Claire nodded and readied herself.

Jim mouthed "3, 2, 1, go." They burst through the curtain and saw their intruder. Romkil.

"What are you doing in here?" Claire asked.

Romkil quickly dropped the bag and faced them in surprise.

"I-I can explain." Romkil hesitated.

Judging by half of her backpack's contents being emptied onto her bed, he was looking through her stuff.

"You have five seconds before I throw you out of here and drag your sorry butt to Galerg," Jim threatened.

"Don't! I was just, just..I..." Romkil struggled to come up with words.

"Five." Jim charged at Romkil, but he feigned and dodged Jim's attack.

"Wait a moment," Romkil said, but Jim turned and kicked Romkil in the chest, throwing him into a wall. Romkil quickly stood up, but found the point of Jim's sword at his throat. He held up his hands in surrender.

"James wait!" Romkil blurted. Jim raised an eyebrow.

"It's Jim," Jim growled.

"No." Romkil looked into Jim's eyes and after a moment he looked at the ground. His shoulders slumped in defeat as he let his hands fall to his sides.

"Your full name is James Lake Jr., you were named after your father, who left you and your mother when you just turned 5 years old. He'd bought you a bike as a Birthday gift. A gift he never got to see built."

Lines formed between Jim's eyebrows in confusion. "How do you know that?" Jim asked.

Romkil lifted his gaze to Jim again and held it. "Because I'm James Lake Sr."

•^^•


	11. Life Updates

Sorry about dropping off the face of the earth. But I'm back now! So I just realized that with the most recent images released from the next Tales of Arcadia series, 3 Below, that Jim and the gang probably already knew that Aja and Krel were aliens by the time they left Arcadia, making my scene at the beginning of Chapter 9 void so…yeah. Anyway still can't wait to see 3 Below!

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Life Updates**

•^^•

"You're kidding me," Jim said deadpanned.

"Kidding?" Romkil said a little offended. He swatted Jim's sword away from his face. "I'm serious. I'm your father."

"You're a troll," Jim said blatantly.

"I'm a changeling!" Romkil said in frustration.

Jim froze momentarily but quickly recovered.

"Oh, well, that definitely earns my trust more," Jim said sarcastically, his temper rising. "You could be making all this up. It's not hard to find out about my dad from Blinky or my friends." He said defensively.

"Are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Romkil nearly shouted.

"Enough you two!" Claire interrupted, silencing them. She faced Romkil. "If you're really Jim's dad then tell him something only he would know." Trying to get them both to calm down.

Romkil was quiet for a moment. Jim attached his sword to his back, folded his arms tight to his chest and waited.

"I don't know if you'd remember this but...most nights when I made dinner, you would ask for my special sauce."

Jim's eyes widened as memories flooded back to his mind.

Romkil continued. "You would put it on every meal you could. You even tried it on ice cream once," He chuckled. "What you didn't know was that my special sauce was just ketchup and mayo mixed together." Romkil looked up to see Jim's shocked expression.

"You remember, don't you?" Romkil asked hesitantly. The shock on Jim's face melted away into a resentful frown.

"I remember," Jim said. "Fine, so you're my dad, but that doesn't explain why you were is Claire's room to begin with."

Romkil reached for his pocket and pulled out a small picture. It was a photo of Jim before his transformation with Claire, Toby, and Darcy with their flour sack babies from their school assignment.

"You have your mother's smile." He said solemnly, dropping the photo onto Claire's mattress. "When I saw Barbara's picture on your phone, I had to be sure of who you were. Now that I know...it feels as if fate is laughing at me. My son that I left, ended up finding me, but as the Trollhunter, an enemy to changelings." He paused and gained the courage to look up into Jim's eyes. "Ja-...Jim, I never meant to hurt you or your mother the way I did. You must know why I left that day."

"You think telling me will make a difference in all of this? You still left. You still hurt mom. You have no idea what you put us through!" Jim said, his voice building into a yell.

"Jim-"

"GET OUT!" Jim roared at Romkil, making Claire flinch in surprise.

For a moment Romkil looked hurt, but he quickly hardened his features and strutted out of the room without another word.

Jim's heart was racing as he watched Romkil leave. Taking heavy breaths, Jim felt his world shifting around him. He took a few unsteady steps and felt his foot hit the edge of Claire's mattress. He put his palms to the sides of his head. His father was a changeling, his father was here, his father…

Overwhelmed by his thoughts, Jim dropped down and sat on the edge of Claire's bed. Soon his elbows rested on his knees and he placed his forehead against his folded arms. He took deep breaths.

Next, to him, Jim felt the mattress being pressed down. He didn't move, knowing it was Claire that gently sat down beside him. She stayed silent as Jim continued to calm down and gather his thoughts.

After a while, Jim finally lifted his head off his arms but kept his eyes on the ground at his feet. Claire snuck a side glance at Jim. His brows were furrowed and frustration still shadowed his face.

The silence was making the tension build in the room. Claire couldn't think of any words to say that would possibly help, so she did the next best thing she could. She reached over and placed her hand on his, tenderly rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb. At the same time, she leaned over and gently rested her head atop his armored shoulder. She wanted Jim to know he wasn't going through this alone.

Within moments Jim felt some of the weight of the drama lift off his shoulders as he drank in Claire's touch. He let out a sigh.

Jim twisted his hand and held Claire's hand in his, giving a light squeeze back. Then, he let another breath leave his lips. The tension lessening. Claire felt Jim lean back and she leaned back too until their backs were resting on top of the mattress. After a time of staring at the cave ceiling, Claire began to get sleepy. She almost nodded off until Jim spoke.

"I stopped caring about my Dad years ago. This shouldn't change how I feel about him." Jim said quietly, partially trying to convince himself.

"That was back when you thought he was a deadbeat and human," Claire said tenderly.

Jim released a heavy sigh. "I don't know…can't I have a few normal things left in my life?"

"I think normal is overrated," Claire turned over on her side and faced Jim. She reached over and brushed her knuckles over the side of his face.

He looked over and met her gaze. There it was, the shine Claire had in her amazing eyes that made Jim feel like he was the luckiest person on Earth.

He softly smiled. Claire lowered her hand and her eyes fluttered close. She moved a little closer to Jim so her head was next to his.

"I know you've been through a lot, but I think Romkil may have gone through some things too. Maybe -she stifled a yawn- you should find out his side of the story when you're ready. It might help." Claire said as her tiredness began to overtake her.

Jim looked away at the ceiling, his anger stirring again. How could he even face his Dad again without thinking about all the pain he caused his Mom and him? Then, he remembered how sad Romkil looked when he tried to talk with him and how Jim yelled at him. Jim thought his Dad still deserved that pain, he deserved a lot more, but Jim stifled his pride. Taking revenge out on people wasn't what Jim did. He needed to let his fury go and try to understand Romkil's perspective. It's what the Trollhunter would do, it's what Jim would do.

"Maybe you're right," Jim finally responded. Suddenly Jim heard Claire's breathing get louder. He looked over and found her fast asleep. Jim smirked at Claire. He remembered it was probably the middle of the night now.

Jim watched her for a moment. She was so serene and still so beautiful while she slept. He then realized that this was the first time he'd seen Claire blissfully asleep. He thought he could watch her all night. And on that note, Jim suddenly felt like a creeper.

He slowly got up from the mattress and draped her fallen blanket over her. Then he gently lifted her head and put her pillow underneath it. Claire stayed asleep but gave a sleepy smile while she pulled the blanket closer. Jim smiled and then tucked a clump of fallen hair behind her ear and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

"Thanks for being one of the few normal things in my life." He muttered before standing and walking out of her room.

•^^•

Romkil was practicing offensive strikes on a training dummy when he heard Jim walk into the arena.

"Thought you didn't want to see me," Romkil said firmly, turned away and still practicing some jabs with his spear.

"I did, but I need to hear why you left," Jim said.

Romkil stopped and looked at Jim. After judging if he was serious, Romkil walked over to the side of the training area where there were stands for the weapons. He set the spear in a holder and sat down on a rounded rock. He gestured for Jim to sit on the opposite rock from him. Jim did so, trying to keep his mind open and his anger under control. Once Jim was seated Romkil took a deep breath.

"It feels like a lifetime ago since I lived in Arcadia Oaks. Although I've lived a long time, the only human life I've had was as James Lake, but I will spare you the story of my growing up in Arcadia."

"Thanks," Jim said sarcastically.

Romkil's mouth tightened in frustration before he quickly continued. "Changelings are trained to be strictly obedient to the Janus Order, see humans as inferior, and prepare for the rise of Gunmar. We aren't supposed to get attached to our human lives." Romkil began. "On the day of your 5th Birthday, was the day I was ordered to leave you and your mother by the Janus Order."

Jim's mind called up a memory of he and his Dad, he had just opened the box that had the pieces of his first bike in them. He remembered how excited he was to get his first bike. His Dad brought the box to the garage so they could start building it, then Jim briefly recalled there was a man outside the garage, but he didn't think much of it at the time. Then his Dad said he'd be right back and left. He had planned on coming back, Jim realized.

"A head changeling of the Janus Order at the time, Salzerwedge, wanted me on the east coast immediately to continue my climb in the military. I tried to reason that I was more valuable in Arcadia, but instead, he simply asked if I was letting myself be distracted by my human family. He...he asked if they needed to be taken care of for me." Romkil looked shaken at those last words.

Jim's eyebrows shot up as he understood what the head changeling implied.

"The thought of you and your mother gone...it scared me. I couldn't let that happen. So, I agreed and walked away with him." They were both silent for a few moments.

Jim was picking away at the story. The more he thought about it the more his anger rose.

"That's it? You just gave up and left? We could have all run away together. Move somewhere else. Mom would have understood, she loved you. We could have stayed a family. You, you didn't even try!" Jim shot up from his seat and yelled at Romkil.

"You think I didn't consider that? Even if she somehow accepted what I am, what kind of a life on the run would that have been on you and your mother? You would have missed out on a normal childhood because of the fear being found by a faceless organization, not knowing who to trust or who could be watching you. Tell me, would you yank the people you love out of their happy life just so you can be paranoid together. " Romkil stood and shouted back.

Jim took a step back. Would he? Has he already? No...no, Claire chose to come, she accepted him for what he was long before they left. Jim thought back to their date, Claire dancing with him under the stars, their kiss, her sleeping form...they were happy together. Resolve made him stand taller and he looked his father in the eye.

"I tried to keep being the Trollhunter a secret from Mom and it only made things worse. But once she knew, everything worked out. And Claire is here because she wanted to be. When you're honest with the ones you love things _work out_." Jim emphasized the last two words. "Maybe you're right about one thing, maybe I wouldn't have a had a normal childhood if we went away with you. But guess what, I still had a pretty crummy childhood because my Dad left, without a word, without any indication that he loved my mom, that he even loved me." Jim said, emotion racking his last words. Jim's eyes were getting misty, he kept them trained on the ground, angry he let his emotions show. Feelings he didn't know existed until moments ago.

Romkil looked remorseful, but he held his head high.

"I didn't just forget about you two when I left. When I got here to New Jersey I couldn't go on living a human life without you and your mother, so I ran. I heard rumors of another Heartstone so I searched for it, then the Janus Order found me. Right when I thought I was done for, the Troll Guard found me and I've stayed here ever since. I'm...I'm sorry, Jim. If I knew that it would have worked out I would have come back in a heartbeat, but I didn't know. I did what I thought was best to keep you safe. I thought that you were better off without me." Romkil's eyes pleaded with Jim to understand. Jim didn't meet his eyes.

"I guess we were." Jim almost choked on the last word. He felt another wave of frustration wash over him. Jim took in a shaky breath. He couldn't do this anymore. Jim turned and rushed out of the Arena, not looking back.

•^^•

Hours later, Jim paced on the balcony replaying his father's story in his mind trying to absorb the information. But what he was also wrestling with was how he was going to tell his Mom about meeting his Dad. He wondered what the information would do to her. Would she freak out or would she not even bat an eye at this point? Her son is the Trollhunter that became a half-troll and her boyfriend turned out to be a changeling. So she's had her share of surprises.

Before he could back out Jim finally hit the call button and the phone began to dial. Right when Jim thought the call would go to voicemail, she picked up.

"Hmm?" Barbara hummed in greeting. Jim was surprised, he'd never heard her so disheveled.

"Sorry to wake you up, I thought you would be up at the hospital or something. I can call back later," Jim said hastily.

"What's wrong sweetie?" Her voice was more alert this time. Barbara's mothering instincts were picking up on the edginess of his voice.

"I…" Jim was uneasy about this moment. Trying to figure out the best way to tell her.

"Jim?" Barbara said this time there was no sleepiness in her voice.

Jim realized he was worrying her even before he got the truth out. He forced himself to just say the simplest thing he could think of.

"I uh, saw Dad today or at least I talked with him for the first time knowing it was him." He rushed, his words smooshed together in nervousness.

"Jim slow down, you're not making any sense." She said confused.

"He's here, Dad's here, at the Trollmarket." He took a deep breath before continuing. "He's a Changeling."

Jim had expected to wait painfully for her response, but words instantly cut the silence.

"What! He's alive?" A voice in the background said in disbelief. Jim recognized it in a heartbeat.

"Wait Mom is Strickler there?!" Jim said in almost horror.

"Oh uh." Barbara stumbled over her words before she acknowledged what Strickler said.

"Wait. What do you mean _alive_? Why wouldn't he be alive?" She asked Strickler with anger in her tone.

"I, uh, well, I may have known all of the Changelings who were ever here in Arcadia. And I happen to remember a changeling that deserted, was tracked down and was said to have been killed. He also happened to have the human alias of James Lake Sr." Strickler said nervously.

"Jim, I'll call you back," Barbara said in a quiet rage and hung up.

Jim let the phone drop from his ear and let his hand fall to his side. He let out all the air from his lungs.

 _No big deal, Strickler knew my Dad was a changeling._ _And for some reason was close by my mom when she picked up her phone…when she was sleeping,_ Jim cringed at the thought and pushed it to the back of his mind. Jim lowered his head in almost defeat. What else could go unexpectedly with his life?

To his left, he could hear someone gasping for air. He turned to see Krem walking up the last steps to the balcony, out of breath.

"The Soothscryer...is ready." Krem gasped.

Jim had already forgotten that the Soothscryer would be done today. He'd be getting the other half of his amulet back. He should have been more excited but he was still feeling the repercussions of last night.

"Thanks, I'm on my way," Jim said. Krem just nodded breathlessly in acknowledgment before turning and beginning his descent.

Jim looked out over the Trollmarket one more time before turning and making his way across the balcony and down the stairs, catching up with Krem.

•^^•

Jim and Krem entered the Training Arena, the Soothscryer was set up in the center of the fighting circle. Merlin and Claire were talking to each other while Blinky and Nomura conversed as well. They stopped and turned when Jim and Krem entered the fighting circle.

"Are you ready, Trollhunter," Merlin said as he approached.

"Yeah," Jim said determinedly, but still solemn. Merlin held his hand out to usher Jim towards the Soothscryer. The carvings were similar to his Amulet, but the gaping stone mouth with its rows of teeth didn't look any more inviting than the old Soothscyer.

As Jim stepped up to the Soothscryer he caught Claire's gaze. She gave Jim a concerned look and mouthed, 'You okay?' Referring to the big reveal of his Dad last night.

Jim gave her a slight nod with a small reassuring half-smile and Claire relaxed. A sudden surge of excitement began to make his heart beat a little faster. Jim was going to get his amulet back. He was going to be able to take off his armor. Jim looked at his gloved hand, the one with 5 fingers, and wondered what the difference would feel like with it bare, not having anything getting in the way of feeling Claire's hand. Without his armor, he would get to do a few more things with Claire that he'd been hoping to do for a while, like give her a real hug for starters.

Clearing his mind, Jim took a deep breath and placed his hand into the Soothscryer.

Suddenly a light flashed and he felt his body leave the physical realm and be pulled into another one.

Jim opened his eyes. He was in the void. He took in his bearings, he found the void looked very much like an eerie version of the training arena.

Suddenly, glowing orbs appeared and circled around him. One orb broke from the rest as they separated and hit the ground before Jim. In a burst of light, the ghost of Kanjigar the Courageous appeared.

"Welcome, Trollhunter. You return victorious." Kanjigar said warmly with a bow.

Jim smiled, but it quickly fell as Kanjigar reminded him of Draal. When Draal was killed by Gunmar, he felt a heavy weight of guilt ever since. Now, all he could think of was that Kanjigar lost his son and it was Jim's fault.

"Thank you. Kanjigar...I wanted to say...I'm so sorry about Draal, he didn't deserve to die." Jim looked away. The pain of losing Draal becoming fresh in his heart.

"It is alright Trollhunter, his sacrifice brought about the means to victory and I know you haven't made light of it. He is proud of your triumphs and bravery, but don't take my word for it." Kanjigar smiled as he held out his hand, gesturing to something behind Jim. He turned and saw another glowing orb hit the floor a few feet away. Then another troll-being materialized. Draal.

Jim's jaw went slack as he stared at the grinning form of Draal, his former protector, his friend.

"Draal? Draal!" Jim said as disbelief turned to joy. Jim rushed up to Draal and embraced him in a bear hug. Glad his ghostly form was solid to Jim's touch. He let go and put his hand on Draal's shoulder.

"But, how? I thought only Trollhunters could be here?" Jim said in amazement.

"The void is a thin veil between the living world and the dead. One must be invited to the void to enter. And if you recall, my father happens to be a Trollhunter." Draal smiled at his father. Kanjigar returned the grin. As Jim looked at Draal's happy countenance, all the guilt that Jim carried since his death seemed to fall away. Draal was with his father, which was all he ever wanted. Jim smiled as peace washed over him.

"It's good to see you Draal. I missed you," Jim said patting his shoulder.

"It's great to see you as well and by the looks of it, you've finally grown into that armor of yours." Draal said with a hearty laugh and nudged his arm.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me." Jim turned to Kanjigar. "Kanjigar, Merlin told me that the other half of the Amulet is here. I've come to retrieve it."

"This is a fact that the Amulet would be here, but I have grave news concerning your Amulet."

"Grave news? What happened?" Jim felt a chill pass over him.

"The Amulet has been stolen."

•^^•


	12. Plan B

**Chapter 12: Plan B**

•^^•

"Stolen!? How?" Jim said, panic beginning to rise.

Kanjigar waved his arm and a thick smoke appeared in front of them. In the mist, images appeared.

The images showed a bright light flash and a person appeared at the entrance of the training arena in the void. It was a teenage boy, possibly the same age as Jim, tall, orange hair, and had a wicked grin on his face. The ghostly forms of the troll hunters came and charged him. The boy held out his hand and a wave of magic hit all the ghosts, knocking them across the arena and out of the figure's path. The intruder came up to the amulet as it floated mid-air in the center of the room and took it in his hands. The thief started laughing, pleased that he had the Amulet. Jim bared his teeth with a low growl at the thought of this snot-nosed kid holding his Amulet. The boy turned and left the Void the way he entered. With a wave of Kanjigar's hand, the image disappeared.

"It would appear that he has walked the line between life and death similar to your friend Argamont(AAARRRGGHH!), but we believe they also used powerful dark magic to assist their entry."

"And there's no way of finding where this guy went?" Jim asked.

"They are hiding using magic that our eyes cannot see," Kanjigar said.

Jim let out a breath of disappointment. "Then we'll figure another way to track them down I guess. I'll tell the others and we'll figure out a plan." Jim said determined now.

"A word of advice Trollhunter," Kanjigar said to Jim, clamping a hand on his ironclad shoulder. "Do not let your want of old-time overshadow the time you have."

"Uh, thanks?" Jim said confused.

"Do not worry." Draal came up to Jim and ruffled his furry hair with his hand. "Knowing you, you'll find this thief and take back the other half of the amulet in no time." Draal said confidently.

"I hope so." Jim smiled from Draal's encouragement. He really did miss him.

Jim gave Draal a hug and turned to Kanjigar. "Alright, I'm ready."

"Until next time Trollhunter." Kanjigar acknowledged with a nod. Jim was engulfed by a blinding light then suddenly found himself back in the living world, standing in the center of the training arena. Claire and the other walked over to him.

"How'd it go?" Claire asked.

"Good and bad. I got to see Draal. he's doing good," Jim said rubbing the back of his head. Nomura seemed to take interest in the news but quickly reverted back to her 'I barely care face'.

"And what of the bad?" Blinky asked.

"Someone took the Amulet," Jim said looking up to meet Blinky's eyes.

Surprise flashed over everyone.

"Someone took the Amulet from the Void? That's not possible," Merlin said.

"Well, it is. Kanjigar showed me what happened, the Amulet's gone," Jim said a little bitter.

"Then how'd it happen?" Claire asked she sensed Jim's sadness and went and took his hand in his. He seemed to calm down a little before answering.

"Some redheaded teen came out of nowhere, knocked the ghost Trollhunters aside with his a wave of his hand and just took it," Jim said.

"Are you implying that this boy used magic?" Merlin asked.

"Yeah. Kanjigar said he used dark magic to get in and out on the void."

"There are wizards out in the world, how many, I'm not sure but I bet I might use a spell to find this particular one. I will let you know once I have anything that will be of use." Merlin said stroking his beard.

"Lady Claire would you be so kind as to assist me in this matter?" Merlin said

"Oh, are you sure you don't want Blinky to help. He has 4 hands to give."

"Why I would be delighted to help in the-" Blinky was interrupted by Merlin.

"Actually I just need two hands, not four. Thank you." Merlin turned and started to walk out on the training arena.

"I guess I better go help him." Claire shrugged nervously. She ran to catch up with Merlin leaving Jim and the others quiet.

"It would appear we will have to wait until we get a lead towards this thief." Blinky went over and stood beside Jim.

"By the way, how was your 'date' with Claire?" Blinky asked.

It took Jim a moment to recall his date, it felt like it happened a long time ago and not just last night. The memories of the amazing evening swirled into remembrance.

"It was perfect, everything went exactly as I hoped it would." He held tight to the memories hoping they might overshadow his mixed emotions towards Romkil being his long lost Dad. Which reminded him.

"Hey Blinky could I talk to you about something that happened after the date? In private?" Jim asked.

"Of course, but if it has anything to do with customs of human anatomy, I cannot help you there," Blinky said matter-of-factly.

"Well, I'm out of here," Nomura said stunting towards the arena exit.

Krem looked at them nervously and quickly chimed. "Guess that's my cue too," He sped walked out of the arena.

Jim still wasn't sure if his face could blush, but if it did he would have been crimson.

"Uh no, it doesn't," Jim cleared his throat, trying to dispel the awkwardness. "I just have some news you'll want to hear. It's about my Dad," Jim said.

•^^•

"You really couldn't have used Blinky's help instead of mine?" Claire said doubtfully to Merlin as they entered his workshop. Merlin went straightway to a cabinet and pulled out of roots and began grounding them in a bowl to dust. He spat in the now white-like dirt and kept mixing it.

"I'll need your magic to assist in seeking out the one who stole the Amulet. If the dead can't see him we'll need all the magic we can to find him," Merlin said seriously.

"Okay, so how will we do that?" Claire asked. Merlin poured a bottle of some concoction he pulled off one of his shelves into the bowl. He then dipped his fingers into the bowl and bent down and painted some circular design on the floor.

"There is one ritual that will allow us to see our thief." Merlin stood and wiped the rest of the paint from his hands with a rag. "The only condition is that it's a two-way connection. It will allow the wizard to see us as well."

"So it's like spying on someone but they can see you?" Claire said confused.

"Uh, well, yes," Merlin said truthfully.

"And this doesn't concern you that they'll know we're on to them."

"My guess is that he's already been onto us for a while. Knowing that we were about to retrieve the Amulet, he went and took it."

"You think he's been watching us?"

"Yes, but I have no idea how. This spell should help in knowing who's watching and give them a taste of their own medicine." Merlin said determinedly. He finished the painted design on the floor and he motioned Claire to step into the circle across from him.

"Now repeat after me," Merlin said. He spouted a line of a spell and Claire did her best to follow. They both kept repeating the words until the painted circle started glowing. Then a fuzzy image started to materialize between them showing an image of a boy in a dark warehouse. Claire looked at the boy. He was kinda like what Jim described but in a sense, handsome, and older than she imagined. He was pouring over books with unique symbols in them when he looked up at Claire and studied her for a moment with his piercing green eyes. Then he fixed his gaze on Merlin with a malicious grin.

"Miss me?" He grinned.

Merlin's expression dropped and he quickly stepped away from the image. The spell ceased immediately after he stumbled out of the painted circle. The room went silent. Merlin was standing there shocked trying to steady his heart. He muttered a single word, but Claire wasn't sure what he said but it sounded something like a name.

"Merlin, what happened? Do you know him?" Claire came up to him confused but concerned.

"Out! I need a moment," Merlin said a little anger in his voice now.

Claire wanted to know what Merlin knew, but could tell that he wasn't going to budge on this one. She pursed her lips but didn't say anything as she turned and left the workshop.

•^^•

Galerg looked over the Trollmarket from the vantage point of the Heartstone. He saw the troll citizens busy themselves with selling the minerals and crafts they made to one another. The few young trolls were chasing each other, keeping their restlessness at bay. Galerg couldn't say the same for himself.

He was uneasy at how much had altered after the Trollhunter and his group came. Already, trolls were beginning to venture out more and more from the Trollmarket on their own, putting a hitch in his plans. He needed them to be doing what they always did.

Mining the rock that would change everything.

He was so close, but if things continued the way they did. He might lose his chance of getting what wanted after all. Galerg wasn't going to let that happen.

•^^•


	13. Up to No Good

Sorry for the silence, had some major writer's block but I vanquished it and gave it the honor of a glorious death. And if you caught my reference, I also managed to squeeze in some binge watching of 3 Below which was awesome! Also, super glad my scene where Toby tells Jim that Aja and Krell are aliens is still somewhat applicable :D

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Up to no good**

•^^•

Claire made her way out of the blacksmiths and into the Trollmarket. Claire had never seen Merlin look so...scared. She turned her thoughts towards the young wizard she saw through the spying spell. The malevolence in his eyes still jarred her. As her thoughts circulated, she turned the bend that was a short ways from what only Blinky was calling the 'Trollmarket Library'. As she approached the cave entrance she heard Blinky's voice ring out.

"That scum of the earth father deserves a good knock on the head!"

Claire couldn't help but be amused and walked into the library.

"Sounds like you two are having a nice chat," Claire said jokingly as she walked up to Jim.

"Indeed." Blinky harrumphed as he went and pulled a book off the stone shelves.

"I just finished telling Blinky about Romkil," Jim said to Claire, unsure whether or not he should be concerned or satisfied with Blinky's reaction.

"I still can't believe that low-life is here!" Blinky said as he slammed a book onto a table and opened it. Jim shrugged then turned to Claire.

"So how did things go with Merlin?" Jim asked Claire to help change the subject.

"Uh, I'm not exactly sure. He performed a spell to find that boy, but then Merlin freaked out and stopped the spell before we could figure out where he was." Claire said.

"Did Merlin see something?" Jim asked.

"Merlin just saw the wizard, but I think he knew him. I think I heard Merlin say his name. It sounded like Moread? Morgret?-"

"Mordred," Merlin said in the doorway, looking uneasy. Everyone turned and watched Merlin walk into the library. Claire's eyes lit up in recognition.

"Wait...that's the villain in the King Arthur myths, but in the stories, he isn't a wizard," Claire questioned, trying to remember what else she knew about him.

"Unlike those myths, Mordred was a young pupil of mine. He was gifted beyond his years as was his sister, Morgana." Merlin said distastefully.

"That kid is Morgana's brother?" Jim said surprised.

"Sadly, yes. I trained him alongside his sister when he was old enough. Over time he started to use his magic to control and manipulate others. It wasn't until the day that he killed...an innocent bystander, that I had no choice but to put an end to him. Before she turned on me, I had Morgana help me trap Mordred. It would appear she didn't finish the job as I thought she did," Merlin said.

The others stayed silent as they absorbed Merlin's tale. Merlin took a deep breath before continuing.

"How he's alive and why he's showing himself now after all these years is a mystery to me, but one thing I am sure of. Mordred will be plotting nothing but setting chaos and death, _everywhere_ ," Merlin said emphasizing the last word.

Claire tensed up at the picture Merlin described. It wasn't too hard for her to believe that boy was evil. She remembered the look he gave Merlin and she shivered. Jim noticed and discreetly wrapped his hand around hers. Claire gripped his hand tight and a calmness settled over her.

"Not unless we stop him," Jim said seriously to everyone. "Was there anything from the spell that gave any clues towards where he's hiding?" He asked Merlin.

"I don't recall, I may have been a little stunned to see my dead apprentice that I didn't happen to take notice of his surroundings," Merlin said flatly.

"I uh, saw, the spell," Claire chimed in. "It looked like Mordred was in some kind of warehouse, looking over a bunch of old books...with a weird symbol on them! Here I think I can draw it." Claire let go of Jim's hand and went to the stone table in the room. She grabbed a piece of parchment and a charcoal pencil. After she scraped a few lines over each other, Claire stood back when she finished. They all leaned over and looked at it. It was an upside-down horseshoe with a line down the center with another line perpendicular on top and two squiggly lines on both sides. There were seven circles drawn around it and on top were two creatures with horns.

"I have no idea what that could be," Blinky said bluntly. "Maybe I can look through my books to see if there are any possible explanations to what this symbol means."

"I'll do some searching of my own. Until we know what he is planning and where he is, we must keep this quiet." Merlin said seriously.

•^^•

Krem didn't always get the short end of the stick, well not all of the time. He hated having to check on the status of the mining in the outer caves but it was his duty as Galerg assistant. He hated the dark and these caves were the darkest.

He used his glowstone to light his path but found it was starting to dim. Krem could barely see a few steps in front of him. He could hear the clinking of picks hitting the minerals and followed those, though he knew they were still a far distance away.

This mine was important, Galerg had Trolls around the clock mining the stones since they discovered it a while back. Sure they helped with the birthstones somehow, but he still hated the long walk down into the mines. Krem continued down into the tunnel until his glowstone finally gave out on him and died. Blackness surrounded

"Great," Krem said to himself nervously. He began to feel his way through the tunnel, the quicker he moved the quicker he'll be at the end where there were more glowstones. As he moved he heard voices coming from deep in the tunnel and moving towards him. As he moved he could see a soft glow approaching from around a curve in the tunnel. Relieved, he kept walking towards the voices, hoping they might have a spare glowstone.

Then Krem recognized the voices and stopped. Troll Guard. He hated the Troll Guard, they were big bullies and Krem couldn't understand why Galerg would treat them so special just because they go above ground and beat up anybody who got close to the Trollmarket entrance. As Krem debated whether or not to hide from them behind the strewn about boulders, his ear's picked up on their conversation.

"...Galerg says it'll be done tomorrow," Said a Troll Guard.

Krem froze as he heard his Uncle's name. He tuned in more as their words became clearer.

"Good, I'm sick of staying hidden. We'll finally get to have some real fun," The other Troll Guard replied menacingly.

"Yeah with the casting complete, we'll just need this last batch of Necoriumite and every single fleshbag will be under our control." The first Troll Guard said, a little too pleased.

Krem shivered at their words as fear seemed to lock his legs in place. The light from their glowstone was about to come around the curve in the tunnel and Krem was completely exposed.

"Move legs," Kerm commanded his with a panicked whisper. He decided to turn and ran back the way he came but as he darted back he tripped on a rock and fell backward with a loud thud.

"Hey did you hear that?" One of the Troll Guards said.

Krem scrambled up and booked it as fast as he could up the tunnel, moving faster than his chubby legs had gone before. From behind he could hear the Troll Guards running after him yelling commands to stop, which Krem, of course, didn't. He couldn't let them see him, he had to tell someone what he heard.

 _The Trollhunter, he'll help me!_ Krem thought as he started to see the light from the entrance of the tunnel up ahead. He kept climbing up the rocks and was about to reach the top when a figure stood in the entrance. Krem jolted to a stop, his eyes wide as Galerg stood in front of him with two guards. Krem felt his heart drop and couldn't think of what to do.

"Krem, have you already finished the status report?" Galerg asked in an unamused fashion.

"I, I uh…" Krem breathlessly stuttered in fear. His legs seemed to freeze again.

From the depths of the tunnel, the Troll Guards emerged running around a bend and stopped when they saw their Troll leader. Both Troll Guards gave a small bow to him, each a little out of breath.

"What's going on here?" Galerg grouchily demanded.

"Galerg we have a small problem." The first Troll Guard said as he pulled his spear out and held the point at Krem's neck.

•^^•

Hours passed as Jim, Claire, and Blinky were still looking through Blinky's books for anything that could relate to the symbol Claire drew. They came up with a few ideas but none seemed to click.

"It appears my books do not hold the answers we seek," Blinky sighed as he closed his last book.

"I can go to the public library and see what I can find." Claire said.

 _DONG! DONG! DONG!_ A loud but slow ringing filled the air. The group hurried out of the library and found trolls quickly making their way towards the Heartstone. Jim looked to Blinky for answers but he just shrugged. None of them knew what was happening but they could tell it was serious.

They followed the crowd until they all gathered down below where the heartstone grew from the cavern wall. They spotted Merlin in the crowd and joined him.

"Merlin, do you know what's going on?" Claire asked the wizard.

"I believe he'll be the one to answer that," Merlin nodded up towards the Heartstone.

They all turned to see Galerg standing on the inclined slope that led up to the heartstone above everyone. He had two Troll Guard behind him, one of them was Romkil. Romkil kept his eyes up and didn't look down on the assembly. Jim's brows furrowed and his pulse quickened. He hadn't seen Romkil since their fight and it brought a small stab of anger seeing his Dad just stand there as if nothing had happened. Upset, Jim threw his focus back on the Troll Leader as the worried lull of the trolls was silenced by Galerg's appearance.

"My good trolls, we sounded the alarm bell at the dreadful news of a theft that has happened not long ago. A birthstone has been stolen." Galerg said.

Gasps and whispers filtered through the gathering immediately.

"We have witnesses that suggest that the culprit is none other than my nephew Krem."

Another roll of whispers swept the crowd. The Trollhunters looked at one another in disbelief.

"We ask that every troll keep an eye out for him and to report anything suspicious to our Troll Guard. They will also search the sewers to see if he has already escaped the market. We hope that the birthstone can be found quickly and returned to the heartstone safely." Galerg said solemnly and gave a nod to the crowd. He turned and walked up into the Heartstone, followed by Romkil and another guard. The trolls around them started to ramble with conversation.

Jim took a steadying breath after seeing his Dad again and refocused his thoughts on Krem. How could Krem, the same troll that gets emotional over poetry, be a baby thief? Everything about this didn't make sense. How could Krem steal a birthstone and get it away from the Heartstone?

Jim had learned in the first week that the New Jersey Trollmarket had a lot of Birthstones, stones that allowed two trolls to grow a baby troll in. Kinda like a chick in an egg. The birthstones were crystals that grew in the Heartstone and only in the heartstone. So Krem would have had to chisel off a birthstone from the Heartstone under the Troll Guards noses and transport that punching-bag-sized stone out of sight. Not very likely.

"Are any of us actually going to believe this?" Claire said turning to their group, voicing Jim's thoughts. The crowd around them were starting to disperse.

"I for one, do not believe Krem is capable of such, oh how to put it, skill," Blinky said.

"I agree, something's off about this, we have to find Krem and clear this whole thing up," Jim said, but a sound made him look over to his right.

A ways off he could see two trolls standing together, one sounded as if they were crying and the other was trying to console them. The parents of the stolen birthstone, Jim realized.

Determination suddenly set into Jim's whole being.

"And get that Birthstone back."

•^^•


	14. Ice of you to join us

Random thought: I forgot to mention that I totally believe that Jim can still use the bathroom and stuff. In the series, they repeatedly point out that Trolls use the bathroom, so I'm thinking a zipper just magically appears when he needs it. End of random thought.

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Ice of you to join us**

•^^•

Jim stepped in a puddle as he, Claire and Blinky made their way through the sewers of Bellridge city. They followed Claire's enchanted necklace in hopes that it would take them to Krem. Merlin would have done the locator spell for them, but Galerg had asked him to stay behind to inspect the Heartstone, insuring its stability with a birthstone missing from it.

Claire led the way, letting the necklace tug in her hand. As they reached a fork in the tunnel she stopped and waited. Within moments the necklace pulled to the right.

She led them down the right tunnel. After a few moments, a metal ladder appeared through the dim lit tunnel that led up to the surface. The necklace pointed up when they got to the ladder.

"I think he's up there," Claire said.

"I'll go first," Jim said.

Jim gripped the ladder and started climbing up. Soon he was at the top and found a metal grate opening. After he listened to hear that no one was above them, he pushed the grate off and climbed out of the opening into a dark room. It looked like a dusty old storage closet of sorts. Claire and Blinky climbed out after him.

"Are you quite sure this is where Krem is?" Blinky asked, inspecting the barren shelves of the storage closet.

Claire's necklace tugged again and it pointed to the door.

"He's close," Claire responded.

Jim opened the door slowly and peaked his head out. It appeared they were in a small docking bay for trucks to unload supplies. The coast was clear so he led the way out of the closet. They immediately noticed a light shining from down a hallway to the side of the docking bay.

Jim brought his Eclipse Blade out and held it firm, unsure of what to expect. They walked up the five steps to the second level and cautiously made their way into the hallway. The light was coming from what looked like a giant freezer room. The door was wide open, a thin cool mist spilling over the ground.

Jim peaked his head around the door frame and did a double take.

"Krem?" Jim immediately put his sword to his back and hurried in. Krem was tied up, gagged, and was dumped on the floor next to a big wrapped up object that Jim could guess was probably the Birthstone. Claire and Blinky followed Jim in.

Claire stopped when she saw Krem. "Why's he tied up?" Claire asked.

Startled, Krem looked up at them wide eyed, he moaned something urgent but unintelligible through his gag and hastily pointed his chin behind them. They all turned in time to see the fridge door slam shut. Trapping them in the icy interior.

Claire's heart seized as the heavy echo of the door slam reverberated through the freezer. Jim hurried to the door. The handle on their side of the door had been removed and there were no hinges to cut. He quickly pulled out his Eclipse Blade and slashed at the door a good dozen times but with no avail. Then Jim backed up and hurled himself at the door, ramming his shoulder into it. He barely made a dent, the metal was too thick.

"I do not like the sound of that ticking," Blinky said as the noise continued. Claire noticed then that there was a ticking noise in the room. She didn't stop to think what it could be for, she turned and went over to Krem and took out his gag.

"Krem, what ha-happened?" Claire asked with a shiver. Krem sat up after Claire loosed his bonds as well. She wrapped her arms around herself to help fend off the intense cold.

"I was taken by some Troll Guard and trapped in here as bait for you guys," Krem said.

"Why would they do such a thing?" Blinky asked.

"Galerg ordered them to," Krem said disparagingly. "I may have overheard that he's gonna use the Necoriumite we mine in the lower caves to control humans."

"I knew I didn't like the stench of that Galerg one bit!" Blinky said angrily.

"What's necoriumite?" Jim asked.

"It's a rock we mine that we were _told_ helped protect the birthstones and strengthen them. But I guess that was just a lie." Krem said with a flare of anger.

"I'm not familiar with any such mineral," Blinky said stroking his chin curiously.

"Well, we have decades worth of the stuff stored in Trollmarket, and from what I heard, Galerg's planning on using it soon," Krem admitted.

"So, when Galerg found out you knew his plans, he framed you for taking the birthstone, knowing we would come to find you. He set this trap up to get us all out of the way," Jim angrily said.

"Well i-if he's tr-rying to get rid of a-all of us, his plan d-doesn't make sense. I'll freeze, but you guys w-won't." Claire spoke through chattering teeth. Jim went over and rubbed his hand on her back, knowing that was probably the only warmth he could give her because of his armor. Which just fueled his frustration. Jim thought a moment about what she said and the ticking caught his attention. What if it was a bomb or something worse? Then something caught his eye.

At the top of one of the walls was a plate screwed over something that could be a vent.

"There! Maybe we can get out through that vent," Jim pointed.

After some maneuvering, Claire stood on top of Jim's shoulders, glad she wore pants that day and looked at the metal plate. She blew warm air into her hands and quickly tried to loosen the screws from the metal plate with one of her hair clips. Her hands were shaking like crazy, enough that she let the hair clip slip from her cold hands.

"You okay?" Jim asked a little worried.

"I-I'm g-good." She pulled out another hair clip and kept going. She finally got the metal sheet off and there was a vent behind it. She dropped the metal to the ground and tried to pull the vent off, but her hands had gone completely numb by now.

"I c-c-c-can't p-p-pull it off, y-y-y-you'll have to d-d-do it," Claire managed to say.

Jim helped her down, then he leaped up and wrenched the vent off before he came back down.

He tossed it aside and was about to help Claire back up when suddenly a loud click sounded. The ticking stopped and they all paused for a moment. Just then a light fixture came out of a slot in the wall and it was aimed in their direction, then 3 other light fixtures appeared out of the other corners of the tall fridge. Jim only needed one look to know what those light were.

"Oh no," Jim said.

"What is it?" Blinky said.

"I think those lights replicate the sun's rays. If they turn on, we'll be dead in minutes." Jim responded.

"Oh no," Blinky replied.

"Quick, Claire get to the-" Jim yelled as the lights turned on, burning his skin.

Jim screamed in pain as did the other two trolls. Claire gasped seeing the steam roll off their bodies. She had to act fast and turn off those lights. She wrenched her gaze away and looked for something to maybe throw at the lights but the fridge was barren. She had to get in that vent. But how? Claire recalled a spell that Merlin taught her a few days earlier. The hover spell. With it, she could fly up to the vent, but that might risk Jim seeing her perform magic. Claire took one glance back at Jim again, he was doubled over, writhing in pain from the lights. It was all she needed to forget her fear.

She muttered the spell under her breath and immediately began to hover. She still wasn't good at the spell and began to drift off to the right. She tried to swing her arms like she was swimming and managed to grab the edge of the vent. Claire quickly pulled herself inside the vent and stopped the spell. She felt her skin burn as it would freeze to the metal vent. Although she felt like she might turn into a popsicle, she army crawled her way further into the vent. Quickly she saw a light up ahead. She approached it and found it less cold. This time it was a shingled vent opening that could be forced open. She could see the inside of the warehouse through the slits. Claire lifted her numb hands and pushed against it, but it wasn't budging. Behind her, she could hear the tortured yells of her friends. _I can't let them die!_ She thought determinedly. All of a sudden her hands began to glow and the vent started to shake. Then a purple light covered the vent cover and it flew off. And Claire with it.

Claire tumbled out of the vent, but quickly called out the hover spell. It kicked in right before she hit the ground. She righted herself and ceased the spell. Her legs nearly gave out on her as she stood. Looking around, she realized she came out around the side of the massive fridge room into the docking area.

Still weak from the cold and using her magic, she forced herself to move to the door of the fridge.

She peeked around a corner and looked to see if anyone was there. She found the area empty and quickly moved to the front door. She tugged on the handle and after a few excruciatingly tiresome pulls she got the handle to unlatch and pulled the door open. Immediately, all three trolls heaved themselves out of the lights' rays.

"Ow," Krem said as he laid on his back, the smoke coming from his skin slowly stopped.

"I thought being inside Gatto's Keep was hot, but that was unbearable," Blinky huffed.

"Yeah, let's not do either again." Jim said straightening himself. "Thanks, for the save Claire," Jim said. After a moment of silence he looked around to see if Claire heard him. He didn't see her until he moved around Blinky. There on the floor by the open fridge door was Claire collapsed and not moving.

"Claire!" Jim felt a surge of panic seize his heart as he rushed over to her. He knelt down and rolled her onto her back. Her skin was pale and her lips blue. "Claire wake up!" He said frantically pulling her into his arms. Blinky and Krem gathered round.

Jim was checking her pulse when her eyes fluttered open.

"Jim?" Claire whispered. She was so tired, so cold.

Jim's suit was still radiating the cold from the fridge and it made Claire give off a violent shiver and wrap her arms around herself. Jim frowned and set Claire back on the ground and stepped away, a little hurt that he couldn't help warm her up.

Seeing Jim's reaction shook off the last of her fatigue. Claire quickly said, "I'm-m-m okay. Just n-n-need a minute." Trying to reassure him as she rubbed her hands over her arms.

"So what are we going to do? Galerg isn't exactly going to be happy to see us back in Trollmarket," Krem asked out loud.

"I'm betting on it," Jim growled, his anger mixing in with his frustrations and he was looking to take it out on someone.

After Claire could feel her feet again, they quickly made their way back into the sewers, Krem carrying the birthstone that they managed to get out of the freezer.

Sneaking back into Trollmarket wasn't easy, especially with Krem being a wanted troll, but they managed. They hid Krem and the Birthstone in Merlin's backroom of the blacksmiths and quietly snuck into the Heartstone, expecting to find Galerg there, but when they arrived it was empty.

"Where is that scoundrel?" Blinky harrumphed.

Just then a noise cut the air, they turned to see the Heartstone door open and a Troll Guard walk in. The guard's eyes widened in surprise the moment he saw them and he bolted. He didn't get more than a foot before the Trollhunter threw and planted his blade in the open door closing it. Jim quickly grabbed the troll and pinned him against the wall with his forearm.

"Where's Galerg."


	15. I'm gonna give you up

Insert Rick Astley music.

 **Chapter 15: I'm gonna give you up, I'm gonna let you down**

•^^•

Galerg stood tall before a massive mold casting. The smoldering heat still lingered from the billows off in the corner of the warehouse. The old ceiling lights cast an eerie glow on the half dozen Troll Guard inspecting the mold.

Galerg recalled the time when he received the inspiration for his weapon. It was as if a whisper spoke it to his mind and ever since it's all he's thought about. _Ruling over those fleshbags that desecrate the earth._ Galerg's thoughts were cut short when Romkil came and stood next to him.

"The metal has almost finished cooling and we should be able to remove the molding soon," Romkil said with a tone of strain to his voice.

"Why so worried Romkil? We are close to victory," Galerg said proudly.

"I just worry what the Trollhunter will think of our plan once he finds out."

"His opinion doesn't matter," Galerg said sternly. "Neither he nor his friends will give a care about what happens after we unleash our weapon's power on the humans. No harm will come to them after all."

Just then they heard noises from outside the warehouse. The sound of grunts and fighting cut through the night.

A Troll Guard ran in, slammed the door, and prompted his back against it. "The Trollhunter's here!"

"Impossible!" Galerg roared.

Suddenly, a blade sliced between the edge of the door and the door frame startling the Troll Guard. After a silent moment, the door burst open, sending the Troll Guard flying across the warehouse floor and landing before Galerg's feet. Galerg looked up to see the Trollhunters silhouette in the doorway and scowled.

"Jim, what are you doing here?" Romkil asked in surprise.

Jim glared at his father as he walked into the warehouse, then turned his attention to Galerg, "This ends tonight Galerg, were not going to let you control anyone."

Romkil stepped forward. "Jim listen, we just want to let the Trolls be free to walk on the surface without fear. The Necoriumite would only be used to allow humans to see the trolls as friends and not a threat." Romkil pleaded.

"Is that what Galerg told you?" Jim said. Claire, Merlin, and Blinky followed him in and stood beside him.

"What?" Romkil said.

"Krem overheard your plans to use the Necoriumite to control humans and make them slaves." Jim directed his words at Galerg. "That's why you used him as bait to trap us in that freezer."

"Galerg!" Romkil spun on Galerg. "You told me that trap was meant for rogue changelings. Did you use it on my son? On your own nephew?" Romkil asked fiercely.

Galerg was quiet for a moment. "None of that matters now. Open the mold!" He called behind him and the few Troll Guard that were by the giant cast molding hurriedly undid the latches. The biggest Troll Guard pulled on a rope that pulled the casing open. Inside was a giant metal bell. As the biggest Troll Guard kept pulling the moldings apart the bell seemed to be hanging from a thick wooden stand, making it hang in the air.

"Hm, not what I was expecting," Merlin said casually.

"Ring it!"

"No!" There was a unanimous shout of protest from the Trollhunters as another Troll Guard spared no moment and slammed his spear against the bell. A deafening gong-like sound reverberated through the warehouse. Everyone hurriedly covered their ears.

Within seconds it silenced.

They all looked around, waiting for something to happen. Remembering the purpose of the bell, Jim turned towards Merlin, but he acted normal. Then he looked over to Claire.

"Claire?" Jim asked hesitantly. Claire was just staring straight ahead with an empty look on her face. She started walking towards Galerg.

"Claire! Snap out of it," Jim urgently said, waving a hand in front of her face, but she kept walking.

Merlin's hand caught Jim's arm stopping him. Jim froze as he watched Claire stop in front of Galerg and kneel.

"How may I serve you," Claire said in a monotone voice.

Galerg smiled.

"The first of many," Galerg said to himself proudly. "Now there is no stopping-"

Claire suddenly stood up and kicked Galerg in the gronk-nuks.

"I serve no one," Claire said defiantly to Galerg's shocked and pained face. He quickly fell to the ground.

Claire quickly rejoined the others. Merlin gave a small smile to her.

"Wait, you weren't hypnotized?" Jim asked.

"After the bell rang I didn't feel any different. So I seized the opportunity." She said nonchalantly.

Just then Galerg took that moment to finally collect himself. Drawing everyone's attention except Claire's, she noticed a table off to the side of the warehouse. She quickly left the others to look at the contents of the table. As she glanced over the papers and books, Claire's brows shot up in surprise.

"What?! It didn't work? This is...this is..." Galerg rasped.

"Impossible?" A voice crept from the shadows. It was young but menacing. Everyone turned to an unlit section of the warehouse. From the shadows a teenager with orange hair and fierce green eyes came into the light, hovering over the ground.

"Mordred." Merlin seethed. "You should be dead!" He produced his sword and held it firm.

"Well, good old sis thought better and kept what little life you left me alive with a sleeping curse. Her death woke me up nice and refreshed." Mordred remarked nonchalantly, his accent similar to Merlin's. "And may I say that millennial nap hasn't done you any good." Mordred gestured as he let his feet touch the ground to stand.

"What are you doing here?" Merlin demanded.

"He's here for the bell," Claire said firmly as she walked over to her friends. In her hand she held a thick book, on one of the pages was the drawing of the same symbol that Claire saw through Merlin's spying spell. It was a drawing of a bell.

"Well if it isn't my peeping tom," Mordred smiled wickedly. "I've been wanting to meet you." Suddenly he shot forward and hovered right in front of her, brushing his fingers down her cheek. "Face to face."

Before Claire could recoil, Jim snarled and hurled himself at Mordred. But just as quickly, Mordred flew up and out of his reach. Jim put himself in front of Claire as Mordred landed a good distance away. Mordred gave a light snicker.

"So, you must be Merlin's new apprentice." Still directing his words to Claire. "I wonder how long it will take for Merlin to ruin your life too. Not long by the look of it. He already turned your lover into a Troll." Mordred snarked.

Claire's cheeks reddened at that last comment but didn't want to give him the satisfaction of letting it get to her.

"Why do you want the bell?" Romkil asked cautiously.

"Because you lot made it for me," Mordred said.

"What do you mean?" Galerg was the one to speak up this time, he seemed to be afraid.

"Where do you think the inspiration to make it came from? All those "whispers" you've heard over the years, telling you exactly where to find the material and how to make it. While I was trapped in that curse I put it into your mind to make the bell. I just let your imagination get carried away towards what it actually does." Mordred said.

"Then what in Daya's name does this bell actually produce?" Blinky said impatiently.

"You don't have to worry about that, I'll be taking it off your hands," Mordred said casually.

"You'll have to get through us first," Merlin said.

"Well then it's good I'm not alone."

Mordred put his fingers to his lips and let out a whistle. Immediately, an explosion rocked the warehouse. Everyone was knocked to the ground except Mordred. As the dust settled Jim could see off on the other side of the warehouse a huge hole was carved out of the wall from the explosion. Through it, a big semi-truck was being backed in. Jim quickly got up in time to see a dozen or so changelings hop out of the truck.

Mordred said a spell and red magical beams shot from his hands. He slowly picked up the entire bell with its stand and was in the process of moving it across the warehouse towards the back of the semi-truck.

Jim quickly ran at Mordred but was stopped by the Changelings that came off of the truck. Jim pulled his Eclipse blade and began to dodge the attacks of the trolls. Soon to his amazement, he found Romkil next to him helping him fend off the attackers. They fought synchronized with each other, watching each other's back and throwing blows. Jim would have thought this the coolest moment of his life if he wasn't still mad at Romkil. Quickly the rest of the Troll Guard came and helped fight the rest of the Changelings.

Claire coughed up the last of the dust from her lungs and got up to help Jim. However, Merlin called her, making her stop.

"Claire, wait. I must warn you," Merlin said as he was getting up.

"Could you warn me later. Mordred's going to get away!" Claire said hurriedly.

Merlin quickly pulled her aside, with some protest from Claire, a safe distance away from the fighting.

"Under no conditions are you to face Mordred. If you must run then run, but do not fight him," Merlin said fervently.

"What?" Claire said.

Merlin hesitated for a moment then took a sharp breath.

"Yesterday I foresaw that you will fall at the hands of Mordred."

Claire could only stare back at him in confusion. She probably should have been scared, but instead, it just made her irritated.

"Are you serious? Why didn't you tell me this yesterday then?" Claire said.

"I didn't think it would be so soon that we would face him but now that he's here I need you to stay away from him," Merlin said.

"You expect me to just sit on the sideline when I could be helping? I'm not defenseless!" A light glow emanated from her hands.

"Yes you can help, but don't fight Mordred. He made me lose someone dear to me long ago and I won't let him do it again." Merlin said firmly.

Claire was taken back. _Did Merlin love someone once? Does he actually care what happens to me?_ She thought. After a moment she sighed.

"Fine, I'll-" The Claire was stopped by the sound of the truck's horn blowing twice.

Merlin turned and knew as well as Claire that Mordred had loaded the bell on the truck.

"Stay!" Merlin barked as he hovered and flew towards the truck.

All of the Changelings that came with Mordred simultaneously pulled out Dworkstones and activated them when they heard the truck's horn. They threw them at the Troll Guard and Jim and made their escape. Jim's shield expanded on his arm and he was about to jump away when he saw Romkil try to pursue the escaping Changelings. Jim noticed a Dworkstone that was rolling into Romkil's path. By instinct, Jim lept towards him and tackled him just as the Dworkstone ignited. The warehouse erupted in deafening explosions and concussive blasts.

After the explosions stopped and the warehouse stood still. Claire's ears were ringing as she tried to see through all the dust and smoke. She was far enough away to not be completely thrown back. She had seen moments before when Jim had lept to protect his father. She needed to make sure he was okay, but couldn't see him or anyone for that matter. Coughing at the dust in the air, she moved to find Jim.

Then through the smoke, she picked out a figure. Mordred. But he wasn't looking at her, he was facing someone else. Merlin was peeling himself out of the side of the warehouse wall he was thrown into during the explosions. He floated to the ground and faced Mordred.

Dust was beginning to settle. To avoid being seen, Claire hid behind one of the remaining few intact pillars and watched. Most of the Troll Guard were either out cold or barely stirring. Claire still couldn't find Jim among all the destruction. The ringing in her ears subsided enough for her to realize the sound of the truck engine was gone. Meaning the bell was gone.

"So, this is it." Mordred gestured to something on the ground. Claire squinted and gasped when she saw that Mordred was standing over Jim. He was half-buried in rubble and not moving. Claire's face paled.

"This is your champion," Mordred said dissatisfied. "The slayer of Bular and Gunmar? Him?"

"Take my word for it, don't underestimate him," Merlin said poised and ready to fight.

"I won't," Mordred swiftly threw a wave of red light that seemed to engulf Merlin. It suddenly forced Merlin straight through the warehouse wall and disappeared into the night. The sound of his yells faded fast.

Mordred then calmly bent down to Jim, grabbed one of his horns and lifted his head up. Jim's eyelids started to flicker open but he was still dazed from the impact of the Dworkstone blast.

"Don't worry, I'll put you out of your-" Mordred was thrown back when a bright purple blast of magic hit him square in the chest and hit the ground.

"You touch him again and I'll end you!" Claire said, heart racing as she strode out of her hiding spot and stood to protect Jim. Her hands radiating purple light.

"Feisty are we," Mordred said raising an eyebrow.

As Mordred rose, Claire heard a voice come from behind her.

"Claire?" Jim's raspy voice asked from the debris. The way Jim said it made it sound like he questioned who she was. She didn't look back, she pushed the fear of him seeing her do magic out of her mind and let her fury take lead.

 _You will fall at the hands of Mordred._ Merlin's words echoed in her head as she watched Mordred dust himself off. _Is this how it ends?_

 _Focus Claire!_ She told herself. She didn't have time to care about some vision or what Jim was thinking about her at the moment. She just needed to protect him. She stifled her emotions and muttered the shield spell. A glowing purple shield formed in front of her hands and she prepared for the worst.

"Aw, how touching," Mordred said. Then red light violently slashed from Mordred's hand onto Claire's shield. She was pushed back a little but it didn't break her shield. She defended against a few more attacks not letting anything get past her. She was starting to wish she knew some more offensive spells when Mordred caught her foot with his magic and swung her across the warehouse. She rolled to a stop, wishing she also had her armor too.

She tried to get up but red light quickly pinned her down and wrapped around her like a cacoon.

"I like your fire, so I'll be polite and let you in on a secret before I kill you and Merlin's "Champion". Mordred leaned in close to Claire's ear. "The bell will bring back something long thought to be dead. The Draknagoth." A shiver ran through Claire's spine. She didn't know what a Draknagoth was but it filled her with a dread that almost matched her concerns with his threats. But suddenly, Mordred recoiled away in time for Jim's sword to pass inches from his face. The Eclipse blade lodged itself into the ground.

They both looked to see Jim standing a distance away, brows furrowed in anger, and covered in dust. He held out his hand and his sword reappeared. Mordred grinned.

Jim charged Mordred who stood and blasted Jim with magic. Jim dodged the first blast but the second one caught him full on in the chest, throwing him back across the room. Mordred picked Jim up with magical red shoots and threw him against the ceiling. He repeated this multiple times against every surface of the warehouse that was still intact.

Mordred eventually stopped to taunt Jim.

"Good glory, how are you still breathing?" Mordred laughed.

At that moment Claire had had enough. She couldn't watch Jim getting hurt any longer. Her eyes glowed purple as she surged with power. Her anger, unlike anything she'd felt before. Her whole body seemed to glow. Her magical bonds dissolved and she rose into the air. She flew at Mordred with great speed.

Mordred stopped and turned in time to see Claire land beside him. Words filled Claire's mind and she grabbed one of his arms. As she finished speaking the spell, pain seared into Mordred's arm. He cried out and dropped Jim's half-conscious body. Mordred pulled away from Claire's grip with a growl of pain. He cradled his arm and fury shown through his features.

Suddenly, Merlin flew back in and hit Mordred with a huge blast of his magic. Mordred was propelled across the warehouse and struck a pillar. He collapsed to the floor with a moan and then didn't move. Merlin walked over to him.

"You had such potential!" Merlin yelled as he hit Mordred with another blast. "And you squandered it on madness!" Merlin shot out green magic tentacles that picked Mordred up by the chest and brought him close. Mordred's body was slack like a doll and his head lolled to the side, his eyes closed. "This ends now!" Merlin said.

In his other hand, Merlin produced his sword and was about to kill the young wizard when Mordred spoke something.

"Sorry," Mordred whispered.

This made Merlin hesitate. He stared at Mordred in surprise. Like maybe he was just a teenage boy after all.

They like lightning, Mordred thrust his hand onto Merlin's face and yelled a spell. Merlin's eyes and mouth glowed white. The magical green bonds fell away from Mordred and he kept his hand pressed to Merlin's face.

"No!" Claire yelled as her eyes returned to normal. She shot a blast of magic at Mordred but he haphazardly deflected with his injured hand.

Mordred pulled his hand away and the light instantly faded from Merlin's face. Merlin's eyes closed and he collapsed to the ground. Mordred looked down on Merlin with satisfaction, cradling his injured arm.

"See how you like it." He said ruefully to Merlin.

"What did you do to him?" Claire said blasting Mordred with another shot of magic.

Mordred deflected it and then began to hover off the ground. He gave a deadly glare to Claire, one that seemed to give a silent oath of revenge on her. Then he flew out one of the holes in the warehouse wall and into the still night.

Unknown to Claire, Jim watched the magic fade from Claire's hands as she watched Mordred fly away. Brow's furrowed in anger, he turned and left the Warehouse.

Claire stood there for a few moments before finally succumbing to her exhaustion and dropped to her knees. She took in deep breaths to keep from fainting. Behind her, she could hear voices from the Troll Guard gathering together. She heard a pair of footsteps approach her.

She thought it was Jim, but when she looked, it was only Romkil.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

She ignored his question, looked past him and all around the warehouse. There was no sign of Jim.

"Where's Jim?" She asked.

Romkil lent her his hand and helped Claire up.

"He took off," Romkil said.

"What? But he's hurt, why would he..." Claire said. Guilt settled in the pit of her stomach. _Did he leave because of what I did?_

"He'll be alright, he looks like he's taken harder hits," Romkil said.

Claire could only wrap her arms around herself to keep from falling apart.

"Come, we need to have a word with Galerg," Romkil said, his anger flared.


	16. Turn Around

Side note: I'm basically envisioning Mordred as a teenage ginger Loki.

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Turn Around**

•^^•

Claire and Romkil descended the cement stairs down into the Bellridge Park. The rest of the Troll Guard we're still cleaning up the mess of the fight back at the warehouse as well as bringing the sleep-cursed Merlin back to Trollmarket. Jim was still nowhere to be seen. The reminder made Claire sigh at the mess she figuratively made. She did make sure to pass on the information that Mordred told her about the bell to Blinky so he could research it more.

The park was empty as ever as they came to the underpass holding the entrance to the Trollmarket. Then a figure stepped out of the shadows towards them, making them stop.

"Barbara?" Claire said in disbelief.

"Hey Claire," Barbara smiled.

Claire couldn't help it, she ran to Barbara and gave her a hug. Any remaining homesickness she had the past few weeks melted away as Barbara hugged her back.

"It's good to see you." Barbara looked up at Romkil, "Who's your friend?"

Claire pulled away in time to see Barbara's expression change into a suspicious squint.

Romkil had stayed frozen to the spot when he saw Barbara. He recognized her instantly. Her red hair that seemed to catch the moonlight, the way her lips parted and came together when she spoke, her walk, and her eyes. Those eyes were still the same as the first time he met her.

"Barbara," Romkil said, his wonder now replaced with sheer awkwardness.

The recognition in his eyes and the way he said her name was all she needed to know who he was.

"James," Barbara said, anger in her tone.

"Uh...how've you been?" Fell from Romkil's lips before he could catch it.

"How. Have. I. Been?!" Barbara yelled. "Eleven years and that's what you say to me!"

"I, uh," Romkil stammered. Claire's eyes widened at how mad Barbara was. She'd never been this mad with Strickler. Which reminded her.

"Sorry to interrupt but, how did you find us? Is Strickler here too?" Claire interjected as politely as she could.

"I used the GPS on Jim's phone," Barbara said as she pushed her glasses onto her face. "And no, Walt's at home with the children.

"Children!? Wait did you say Strickler?" Romkil said.

"Don't change the subject!" Barbara snapped. "You're lucky your skin is stone otherwise I would have slapped you by now."

•^^•

Jim sat atop a building overlooking Bellridge City and its river that flowed through it. He was in a decent amount of pain, he probably rebroke his ribs, but he didn't really care at that point. He felt more abused emotionally rather than physically. First Romkil admits to being his Dad and now Claire comes out as a wizard. Does he just look like the kind of person who can't take the truth or something? Jim was tired of being the last one to know things. He sighed.

Suddenly he felt his phone vibrate. He looked at it and saw it was a message was from Claire. He was about to ignore it, but the word "mom" caught his attention. He opened the text message.

 _Your Mom is here_

"What?" Jim said. He put his hand to his face. He guessed he would be heading back to Trollmarket sooner than he wanted.

•^^•

After Claire sent the text, she left Romkil and Barbara to finish their "reunion" and entered Trollmarket. She was dead tired, covered in dust, and felt like the world's worst person. She trudged along until she made it to her little apartment cave and collapsed on her mattress. Too tired to change her clothes she pulled her blanket over her head and fell asleep.

Claire found herself standing in a white mist.

"How? Where?" She breathed. Then a voice seemed to resonate everywhere around her.

"Took you long enough, I've been waiting," Merlin spoke.

"Merlin? Where are we?" Claire said.

"In my mind," Merlin said sadly. Claire turned to see Merlin standing by her with his hands behind his back. "Though I haven't much time, so I'll be brief. Mordred must be defeated, it will be the only way to wake me from my sleep." Merlin said.

"Ugh, why can't it be as simple as bringing you the amulet like the first time we woke you up," Claire said in frustration.

Merlin chuckled. "Obtaining the simple is never a quiet task."

"Merlin, I am not in the mood for your wizardry philosophy talk. Jim knows I have magic and is mad at me for not telling him."

"Is he now?" Merlin said.

"Yeah, he made that very clear when he took off." She sighed. She really didn't feel like talking about this. "Does Mordred have any weaknesses we can use against him? Anything at all?"

"I believe that his pride will be the key to his undoing," Merlin said.

"Great, we'll tell him he's not as menacing as he thinks he is, that should do the trick," Claire said sarcastically.

"You will figure it out, I have great faith in you and the Trollhunter."

"I'm not sure I have the same confidence as you," Claire said looking away.

"That is something you must not do Lady Claire, you must not be blinded by doubt," He thought a moment, before continuing. "I doubted once and it led to the misfortune of my one love."

This caught Claire's attention, she looked at Merlin.

"You loved someone?" Claire asked

"Her name was Vivian, she was the fairest and wisest woman I'd ever met. I was still training Morgana and Mordred then. Bringing on an apprentice, let alone two, takes time. Time that I thought I would miss with Vivian so I chose to halt Morgana's and Mordred's training to pursue Vivian. Mordred did not like it. He thought it was below a wizard to love a commoner. I foresaw darkness in Mordred but was blinded by love to do anything about it. One night Mordred attacked Vivian and left her dying by the lakeside. I found her and to keep her from death I transformed her into the guardian of Excalibur, The Lady of the Lake, and there she remains. Not alive, but not dead."

Claire couldn't believe what she was hearing. It made her look at Merlin in a new light.

"Things will work out, you must not let your doubt blind you from what you need to do," Merlin said.

"But what _am_ I supposed to do?" Claire asked but immediately found herself alone in her bed, eyes looking at the ceiling. She sat up and looked around.

"Of course that's when the dream ends." She sighed and fell back onto her pillow.

•^^•

Jim heard his parents' voices before he saw them. Their voices carried through the park. Jim found them by the overpass that led to the Trollmarket.

"Mom," Jim called out as he approached them.

"Jim." Barbara walked past Romkil and embraced Jim in a hug. "I know it's only been a few weeks but it feels like an eternity since I've seen you." She smiled. "Wish it was under better circumstances too," She glared back at Romkil.

"Did you come all this way because of Dad?"

"I was planning on visiting in a few weeks but yes, I sped things up when you told me about your father," Barbara said.

Romkil took a frustrated breath. "Why don't I let you two catch up. Barbara and I can finish our...conversation in the morning, where it's less public." Romkil said and entered the underpass.

"That is probably the one thing I'll agree on with him," Barbara said.

Jim led Barbara down into Trollmarket and into the Trollmarket Library. She greeted Blinky then she and Jim sat down together. Jim told her everything that happened up to that point.

"Wow," Was all Barbara could say to sum up Jim's experiences so far. After a moment of silence, Jim spoke up.

"Claire has magic. Had it for a while without telling me,"

"Honey, it's not like you've kept secrets from her," Barbara responded.

"But that was different, once she knew I was the Trollhunter I didn't hide anything else from her."

"Jim, there was a time that you told me you were the Trollhunter but when I lost my memories you didn't tell me again, even though I asked you to." She said with a tone. "You did that because you wanted to protect me. Claire was doing the same thing. Cut her some slack. When the time came she told you. Just like how you told her you were the Trollhunter if I'm not mistaken." She paused. "That makes what she did different from what your father did. He may have told you who he was eventually, but after running away and leaving with no explanation for 11 years. Claire stuck around, that's not easy."

Jim didn't want her to be right, but she was. The only reason Claire found out that he was the Trollhunter was because she was being hunted by Goblins. Would he have told her otherwise? Jim felt some of his resentment lift off his chest.

"Anyway, maybe some sleep or whatever you do to relax will help. Speaking of which I'm going to get some rest." She got up and gave his forehead a kiss. "You'll work things out, just give it time."

•^^•

Jim spent all night thinking about what his Mom said. He was up on the balcony overlooking the Trollmarket when Blinky came up the stairs.

"Master Jim. Thought I might find you here," Blinky said.

"What's up Blink?"

"I have discovered information about the Draknagoth that Mordred plans to unleash. Come, let me show you," Blinky gestured.

As Jim and Blinky made it to the bottom of the staircase, a loud crack reverberated through the cavern.

"What was that?" Jim asked.

Suddenly a boulder shot out from the cavern wall and water came spraying out over a portion of the trollmarket.

"I would guess that a water pipe has just burst and is relieving its pressure onto Trollmarket." Blinky hypothesized.

"Well let's see if we can help." Jim and Blinky made their way to where the water was firehosing out over the marketplace, sending Trolls fleeing from it. Jim opened up his shield and used it as an umbrella over his head.

"We need something to plug that hole!" Jim yelled over the sound of the water raining down on them. Blinky looked around and found just the thing.

"My, is this quick moss?" Blinky gasped.

He came up to an abandoned Troll booth and picked up a small green bundle of weeds.

"This will do the trick!" He tossed the bundle to Jim who caught it and began running towards the geyser in the side of the cavern wall.

Jim lept up onto a ledge that was close to the hole and clung to the rockface. He forced his hand holding the quick moss into the current of water gushing out, but nothing was happening.

"Blinky it's not working!" He yelled over the current.

"Quick moss needs stagnant water to grow!" Blinky said like it was a common fact.

"Now he tells me," Jim said to himself. He brought his shield up and started pushing it against the spraying water, trying to block it. He was starting to get pushed back when the water suddenly stopped.

Jim brought his shield down to see Claire soaking wet and holding a purple magic shield in the indent of the hole, blocking the current only a few trickles of water were coming through.

"Hey," she breathed. Still holding the magic shield in place.

"Hey," Jim responded, torn between awe and bitterness.

He looked at his hand and remembered the moss. He placed the moss in a puddle that had formed at the bottom of the hole.

Within moments the moss grew and thickened to fill the entirety of the hole, blocking Claire's magic shield from view. When she was sure it seemed secure, she brought her hands down and dissipated her shield. There was a slight bulge from the moss but it didn't break or leak.

"Thanks," Jim said awkwardly.

"Your welcome." She soberly said back, looking at the ground.

They both spoke at the same time, cutting the other off.

"I wanted to-"

"I think I-"

They stopped and looked at each other, sopping wet and standing on a very shallow ledge. Perfect make-up scenery.

Claire broke eye contact and began again. "I'm sorry. I know it was wrong of me to not tell you about my magic, but I was just so..."

"Scared?" Jim said.

Claire met his gaze. "Yeah."

"I kinda figured," Jim said.

"Oh Jim, I still should I have told you." She blurted. "I couldn't control my magic at first and so I thought that if I got it under control that I would tell you, but then Romkil dropped the bomb about being your dad and I couldn't drop another one on you about my magic-"

"Claire, it's okay." As he said the words, he felt a weight lift off his shoulders. He was okay. They were okay.

Claire took a small sigh of relief and smiled at Jim. As they looked at one another they simultaneously drew each other into a tight hug. Both glad to be done with the ordeal.

Blinky watched and wiped a tear from his eye. "Such a touching moment." He said to himself then yelled, "If you two are done, we have a crisis to take care of!"

•^^•


	17. It's a Hog-knock Life

Sorry that uploading this chapter took so unbelievably long. I wanted to nail down the ending before I continued and I'm almost done! I have like seven chapters left and I'll be uploading them every Thursday from here on out. Man, this fanfic is really long-winded, but this stupid story must be told.

* * *

 **Chapter 17: It's a Hog-knock life**

•^^•

They all convened in the library. Jim, Claire, Blinky, Barbara, Nomura, and Romkil. Krem was also there because he had his name cleared. Publicly it was a big misunderstanding. Only they and the Troll Guard knew that Galerg ordered to have the birthstone taken and blame it on Krem. As well as the failed attempt at ruling over humans fiasco. For now, Galerg was in secret timeout and Romkil was watching over Trollmarket with the Troll Guard.

"Now with what information that Claire provided, I have found sources that link to this ominous Draknagoth." Blinky said somewhat mystical.

Blinky pulled out a leather worn book and opened it for everyone to see. It showed in an illustration that Jim recognized.

"Wait that's at that Arcadia Museum," Jim said. The picture was a sketch similar to a wall tapestry that Jim remembered talking to Claire by when they went for a field trip. It showed a woman between two giant boars and surrounded by knights.

"Don't be so surprised," Nomura said. "I chose to display pieces of artwork that were tied to troll history."

"Yes, thank you." Blinky interrupted. "This is a depiction of the Battle of Two Draknagoths. Centuries ago, a wizard named Genhelga wanted to rule over the human world and enchanted two Troll-boar into Draknagoths to cause mass destruction by their ability to burrow through the earth and cause earthquakes. The Trollhunter at the time was able to stop one Draknagoth by tricking the other to ram it's tusk into it and killing it. Thus only one Draknagoth remains. Here it says the wizard Saribella banished it to a different realm to keep it from destroying humanity."

"So what does that have to do with the bell that Galerg made?" Krem asked.

"Ah, I also did some searching about the metal this bell is made from. The necorumite is actually a mineral with magical light and sound properties. With the right sound frequency and light, it can unlock a doorway to another world, such as the Killahead Bridge." Blinky explained.

"The bell is going to bring back the Draknagoth." Claire concluded.

"We have to find him and destroy that bell before he releases it," Jim said.

"What if he already released it? How do we know it isn't already out?" Krem interjected.

"Yes, I was getting to that part. Legend says that only on a blood moon can the creature be unleashed." Blinky stated.

"And when is the next blood moon?" Nomura asked.

Claire pulled out her phone and looked it up. "Uh."

"What?"

"The next blood moon, it's tomorrow night, midnight."

"Oooof course it is." Jim deadpanned.

"Wait you get service down here?" Krem said.

Nomura rolled her eyes. "So that gives us about a day to find where Mordred is hiding. Where do we even begin?"

Romkil spoke up. "If changelings are housing him, I should be able to use what connections I have left with what remains of the Janus Order to find him."

Jim and Romkil's eyes connected and Jim looked away angrily.

"So be it, we haven't a moment to lose!" Blinky said.

•^^•

After everyone dispersed, Claire stopped Jim outside the library. Hesitantly putting a hand on his arm.

"Jim?" Claire said biting her lower lip nervously.

"What's wrong?"

She furrowed her eyebrows and looked down. "Back at the warehouse, Merlin told me something. He said he saw a vision of my future…" Claire took a deep breath. "He said he saw Mordred and I fight and..."

Jim waited.

"And fall at his hands," Claire said. Her forehead creased with worry.

"And by fall, I take it he didn't mean that you'll just trip over something," Jim said seriously.

She looked up at him, her eyes a little wet, and shook her head. She tried to smile like it was no big deal, but now that she said it out loud the reality of the vision set in. And she was scared.

"I'm telling you this because I don't want there to be any more secrets between us."

Jim looked down at her in realization. Claire faced Mordred to protect him at the warehouse. She knew she could have died. Which made him want to scold her for putting herself in danger, but the look on her face made him swallow his words. She'd been carrying this burden around and Jim ignored her for most of that time.

Jim became aware that they were standing in the middle of a busy Trollmarket alley and guided Claire to the side.

"Thanks for telling me, I'm sorry you had to deal with that by yourself."

"It's okay," she let out a shaky breath and wrapped her arms around herself. She felt the burden ease now that she shared it with Jim.

Filled with concern, Jim pulled her into a hug. After a moment Jim had a thought and looked down at Claire.

"Claire, when we find where Mordred is hiding, will you stay behind?" Jim said. It was more of a request than a question.

Claire dropped her arms to her side and took a step back. Every part of her suddenly wanted to scream that she wasn't afraid of Mordred. Death, on the other hand, was pretty scary. But before she could say anything Jim spoke again.

"Stay here. For me?" He asked solemnly, eyes pleading.

The fight instantly left Claire. He always trusted her and let her make her choices, but now by asking her to stay, she knew he was terrified for her.

She let out a sigh. "I'll stay."

•^^•

Time seemed to dredge on as they waited to hear from Romkil's contact. Claire tried to perform the spying spell but it wouldn't work. She even tried to sleep in hopes that Merlin would talk with her through her dreams but he never came. By 10:30 pm they were all in the middle of a heated debate on what to do next when Romkil rushed in with the possible locations from his contact. They quickly narrowed it down to two locations. One was a foreclosed restaurant in New Jersey and the other was an old car repair shop in New York.

"Which one is it?" Krem asked.

"We'll have to split up, IKrem and I will head to the car garage while Blinky and Nomura can check the restaurant," Jim said.

"There is a problem," Blinky said. "According to these underground maps I procured, the gyre cannot travel to the car garage."

"Leave that to me," Romkil said, he placed a hand on Jim's shoulder softly. "I have something to show you." Then he turned to Krem. "Both of you."

•^^•

Romkil brought Jim and Krem to Snaros's Blacksmiths. He nodded to Snaros, who nodded in return, keeping to his work. Romkil led them to a corner of the blacksmiths where two big objects were covered in tarps.

"I was hoping to surprise you with this later but they're needed now," Romkil said and pulled the tarp off one of the objects.

It was a bike, but not just any bike, this was a motorcycle. It reminded Jim of the motorcycle in Gun Robot 3. Its retro design was mixed with sleek dark metal plating like Jim's armor. What stood out the most was the wheels. They had rubber tires but there were gyre gems along the rims. Excitement filled Jim to the brim as he realized that he would get to drive a motorcycle again.

"I helped Merlin in the design, he said he wanted to replace something he took from you," Romkil said.

Jim smiled at that as he ran his hand over the seat of the motorcycle. Jim's lips parted to say something but nothing came out. He felt a mixture of awe and bitterness. Even though Merlin made it to replace his Vespa, the gift reminded Jim of the bike his dad got for him on his 5th birthday. He quickly brushed his feelings aside and gave Romkil a nod of acknowledgment.

Romkil felt Jim's tension but let it slide. He pulled the tarp off the other object and it revealed another bike but with a chopper look to it.

"Merlin made a spare for-" Romkil paused. "Krem, you'll ride this one." He continued.

"Me?" Krem said in disbelief.

"No Snaros. Yes, you, I'll show you the basics but we must hurry." Romkil said, throwing him a big ski mask. Then he turned and picked something up off a shelf. He held it out to Jim. It was a crafted helmet that had holes for his horns and a dark lens that would cover his entire face.

Jim took the helmet and couldn't help but half-smile.

"Let's ride," Jim said.


	18. Goodbye Hello

**Chapter 18: Goodbye Hello**

•^^•

Blinky and Nomura were already off on the gyre to the foreclosed restaurant when the three pulled their Merlin crafted Gyre motorcycles or Gyre-cycles as Krem called them into the gyre tunnel.

After Romkil gave some instructions for Krem and Jim in using the gyrecycles, they were ready to go.

"You'll do fine," Romkil reassured.

"At least Merlin won't be around if I crash it," Krem said nervously.

Romkil turned to Jim and was about to say something but stopped himself. Instead, all he said was "Good luck," and walked out of the gyre tunnel.

Jim watched his father leave and felt an uneasiness. Maybe he was finally ready to talk with his dad more. Of course, it was right before the world might be destroyed by a giant pig but Jim was known for his impeccable timing. Jim refocused and put his helmet on. He was about to mount his gyrecycle when a voice called out.

"Jim wait!" Claire ran into the tunnel.

He quickly took off his helmet and walked over to Claire. "Claire, what is it? Please tell me you're not coming."

She came to a stop in front of him and caught her breath. "I'm not. I just…I wanted to..." She struggled to find the right words.

 _Oh, forget it_. She used her magic to hover up off the ground so they were face to face. Then in a flash, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. She poured out her worries and hopes in the kiss.

After the initial surprise fled, and just as fast, Jim pulled her close to him. He kissed her back with as much urgency as he felt her kiss radiated. He understood what she was trying to say now. _Stay safe._

"I'll see you soon," Jim said softly pressing his forehead to hers.

"Good."

Claire pulled away and hovered down to the ground. She stepped back and gave him a small smile of encouragement.

Jim put his helmet on and then mounted his gyrecycle. He reached to slide his visor over his face but stopped, looked back at Claire and said sincerely, "I love you."

Jim watched as Claire's smile widened, in turn making him smile.

Jim slid his visor down and grabbed onto the handlebars of his gyrecycle. Just then he remembered that Krem was still a short distance away on his gyrecycle. Jim slowly looked over and found Krem wide-eyed, looking between him and Claire. Krem watched the whole thing. Jim chose to ignore the awkwardness and started his bike with a crystal key. Krem quietly did the same. Their bikes sounded like mini gyres that reverberated through the tunnel. Without a second glance, Jim released his brakes and in a flash of light, they were off.

•^^•

Moments earlier, Romkil walked out of the gyre tunnel frustrated. He was getting tired of the silent treatment from his son, but then again he gave Jim and Barbara the silent treatment for the last 11 years. He stamped that thought out. He did it for their own good, he reminded himself. Suddenly, from around a turn, Claire came running.

"Have they left? She asked him.

"Not yet, but if you hurry you can catch them." Surprised, he pointed his thumb behind him.

"Thanks," Claire hurried into the tunnel.

Romkil watched her leave and then backtracked. He peeked his head around the corner into the entrance of the tunnel. He saw as Claire hovered off the ground and kissed Jim. He saw the love they shared with each other at that moment, and it was more than he could bare to watch. He smiled sadly and walked away into the connecting sewer tunnel back to the trollmarket.

Jim and Claire's love reminded him of what he and Barbara had. Which brought back the guilt of leaving 11 years ago and staying away all that time. But he never doubted his choice, telling himself that they were better off without him. But with recent conversations and arguments had over the last few days, especially since Barbara came, he was starting to realize that he may have made a mistake. If it was a mistake to leave, then how would he ever make it up to them, all the pain he put them through.

"Romkil!" Claire called out.

Romkil stopped and saw Claire running to catch up with him.

"Did you catch them?" Romkil said awkwardly, pretending like he didn't know.

"Yes, thanks," She said. A small smile still lingered on her lips.

"So I know it's none of my business but how long have you and Jim been dating?"

"Oh, well, we haven't really dated so much as just spent a lot of time together. I had a small crush on him for a while before he auditioned to be Romeo in our school play."

"Jim did theater?"

"Kinda, it was a complete accident, but then he got cast as Romeo and I think he stayed to spend time with me." She smiled at the memories that resurfaced.

"I take it you were Juliet," Romkil said.

"Yeah."

They walked in silence before Romkil spoke up.

"I'm proud to hear that he spent his time well. I…I regret not being there to see him grow into the young man he's become," Romkil said sadly.

Claire looked up at Romkil in sympathy but wasn't sure what to say. "At least it's good to know you had a reason for leaving instead of just being a ski bum in Vermont."

"What?" Romkil said confused.

Just then a noise made Romkil stop in his tracks. He turned and listened carefully. Claire stopped and listened too. After a few moments the sound started again.

"Is that...the gyre station?" Claire asked.

"Yes," Romkil said suspiciously.

They waited and heard another noise echo through the pipes.

"Are they back already?" Claire asked nervously, sensing she already knew the answer.

"I don't think so."

From the end of a sewer pipe, they suddenly saw a pair of glowing eyes appear through the darkness. Then another and another until there were dozens of eyes looking at them.

"Run!" Romkil said and they both took off in the direction of Trollmarket.

They heard noises of creatures chasing after them but Claire didn't take a chance slowing down enough to get a good look behind her. She followed Romkil until they got to the main entrance overlooking the Trollmarket.

Romkil immediately pulled a hidden lever next to the arched entrance. A thick slab of stone slid down and covered the entry. Romkil tore out his Horngozzle and marked an 'x' on the wall in case they had a Horgozzle too.

"That should hold-" The wall began to glow red and suddenly exploded into a million pieces, throwing Romkil across the balcony, hitting the stone banister. The explosion sounded through the whole Trollmarket, causing all the trolls to stop and look at the dust cloud that surrounded the entrance. Claire had been out of the way, but her arms and legs littered with a few bloody scratches from the flying debris. She immediately brought up her magic shield and waited for the intruders to enter. As the dust settled, a young man with orange hair and a flowing cloak hovered out of the entrance and onto the balcony. Without warning, he turned his icy stare on Claire.

"Miss me?"


	19. Battle of The Bell Part 1

**Chapter 19: Battle of the Bell Part 1**

•^^•

Claire's heart nearly seized as she looked at Mordred. She noticed that his hand she injured at the warehouse was almost black with burn marks etched all over it. Did she really do that? She stopped analyzing and refocused on keeping her shield firm.

"Why are you here?" Claire demanded, trying to hide her fear.

"A little birdy told me a changeling in Trollmarket was looking for me. So here I am." He flourished his arms out like he was on display. "Ah, he doesn't want to see me after all, so rude." Mordred gestured to the unconscious Romkil buried under some rubble. "And I even brought a present for all of Trollmarket and the world," then in a mock whisper he added, "but between you and me it's actual for Merlin." He winked. "and it's meant to be opened at midnight on the dot."

 _The bell,_ Claire thought, _he brought it with him_.

Just then Troll Guards came up the stairs and quickly surrounded Mordred, pointing their spears at him.

"Oh dear, these odds are not in my favor are they? I guess I'll have to even them." He said playfully.

Suddenly the glowing eyes reappeared behind Mordred in the dark of the entranceway. The eyes belonged to changelings as they stepped onto the balcony.

"Keep them entertained," Mordred ordered. "I still need to go and get our present." Mordred disappeared into the dark tunnel but not before giving Claire a look that made her shiver.

A surge of changelings charged at the Troll Guard. They flooded onto the balcony and fighting perused.

A changeling came at Claire, but she hastily deflected his hits with her energy shield. She tried to hit him with a magic blast but she couldn't form one. So she used her shield and managed to knock the changeling over balcony banister. She was about to get back into the fight when stony arms wrapped around her and ran with her down the staircase. She looked up to see Romkil carrying her down into the Trollmarket.

"Romkil? What are you doing! Put me down!" She yelled trying to tug out of his grip.

He ignored her and kept booking it through the chaos of panicked trolls, market stands, and alleys until they reached the Blacksmiths.

He set her down next to Snaros who either didn't know that Trollmarket had been invaded or he just didn't care. He was working away on whatever project he was doing without looking up.

"Snaros. Watch her." He said pointing to Claire and then rushed to leave.

"Woah, wait! You can't expect me to just sit here." Claire said angrily.

Romkil stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Yes, I do." He said tersely.

"But I can help!"

"I know." He said and took a deep breath. "But you mean the world to my son so I'm going to do everything within my power to make sure nothing happens to you." He turned to leave again but Claire ran in front of him, blocking his path.

"That's nice, but you need me, Mordred will come back and I'm the only wizard here. You and the Guard won't last much longer against all those changelings, let alone Mordred."

Romkil looked unphased by the information and was getting impatient.

"Look, I know about Merlin's vision."

Claire's facial expression dropped.

"I overheard you tell Jim outside the library." Romkil waited for her to respond but she didn't. "If there is any part of me left that's trying to be a good father then I have to keep you safe for Jim. I know you can fight and I know the odds aren't great, but we're going to hold out as long as we can until Jim and the others get back. And if you care for him then you need to stay as far away from Mordred as possible." Romkil said firmly.

Claire just stood there dumbfounded as Romkil walked past her and into the trollmarket. She wasn't sure whether to be angry or just annoyed.

She looked at the time. 11:40 pm.

How was Jim even supposed to stop Mordred, she thought. Jim barely survived the last fight with him. How was he supposed to survive this one? Mordred's too powerful. A thought immediately rushed into Claire's head. Maybe that's the answer. Merlin said Mordred's pride would be his undoing. Mordred's power is his pride and Claire could use that against him, assuming she survived.

Claire pulled out her phone. She decided the next best thing she could do at that moment was to call Jim. She dialed his number but it went straight to voicemail. She left a voicemail. As Claire was about to walk out of the blacksmiths a voice called her.

"Hey." It was Snaros, he said still working on his project. Claire stopped and went back to him.

"Snaros, please don't try and stop me."

"I'm not. I'm only supposed to watch you. Here," Snaros tossed Claire a small cylindrical object.

Claire caught it and examined it. It was made out of a dark reflective metal like her armor. She gripped it in one of her hands and recognized a familiar feeling it gave off. Instantly she forced her will on it and the cylinder extended on the top and the bottom. It was a staff. For a moment she thought it was her shadow staff but looking at it more she realized it was sleeker, less curved and more angular.

"Merlin made it for you," Snaros said. He pulled out the project he was working on which was a battle ax and rested it on his shoulder.

Claire looked up in surprise. _Did Merlin know I was going to need this?_ A warmth and confidence washed over her as she held the staff. When she lost the shadow staff she felt a piece of her was missing. Now holding her new staff, she felt whole.

"We better hurry. I don't like the end of the world." Snaros said.

"Let me get my armor." Claire smiled and they ran off together.

•^^•

Wind ripped past Jim as he and Krem accelerated on the gyrecycles. The cycles weren't as fast as gyres but that didn't mean they were not fast. If it wasn't for Jim's heightened troll senses, he would have crashed the instant he took off. They moved so fast that people only saw blurs whizzing past them. After what seemed like maybe 10 minutes of driving, they arrived at the abandoned car garage.

They dismounted their bikes and snuck up to the building. There wasn't any movement but Jim wasn't going to take any chances. He brought his eclipse blade into his hand and quietly made his way to crouch beneath a dirty window. He peeked through, but still no signs of changelings or Mordred.

He signaled to Krem that they would go in silently. Krem nodded and followed Nim to a side door. Jim checked the door and found it was unlocked. That put Jim on edge. He pulled the door open and stepped in. They entered the building and found it was littered with trash and old tools.

"Look for anything that might look like a secret entrance or something."

"Got it," Then Krem carefully took a step. A click sounded.

"Oh no," Krem said in shock.

Jim heard the click. It sounded like Krem stepped on a trap.

"Don't move," Jim said calmly.

"Not moving," Krem barely moved his lips in fright.

Jim got down and looked at Krem's foot. He pushed aside some trash and beneath was a mechanical-looking switch that was just slightly pushed in.

"Alright, I'm going to find something to replace your weight. Hang tight."

Jim quickly looked around and noticed a heavy wheelable toolbox.

"Alright on the count of three, I'm going to wheel this where you are standing,"

"Uh, are you sure about this?"

"Yes, one."

"Uh, maybe we should take a second to-"

"Two."

"Tell Nomura I love her!" Krem said squeezing his eyes shut.

"...what?"

Krem opened his eyes. "Now you stop?! Ugh just do it, kill me now."

"Uh, three!" Jim rolled the toolbox onto the switch right as Krem took his foot off.

Nothing happened. They both breathed a sigh of relief. Jim motioned to Krem for them to leave.

"Oh my Gronka Morka, we almost died," Krem said resting his hands on his knees.

"You're acting like it's the first time," Jim said. Then he looked at the switch. "They knew we were coming. Blinky!" He urgently pulled out his phone but found he didn't have any service. He walked outside and away from the building but no luck.

"Krem we need to go!" Jim called out.

"What about the switch. We can't just leave it."

"You're right, but we don't have time to take it apart. Stand back," Jim said.

Krem didn't like the sound of that and jogged over to Jim.

There were no other buildings close by so Jim figured whatever happened would be controlled. He brought his eclipse blade back and threw it into the open door of the garage shop.

His sword hit the rolling toolbox and knocked it over. Suddenly an explosion knocked them on their backs. The flames rose high into the night sky as they saw what was left of the building now engulfed in flames. Pieces of debris fell around them as they got up.

"That was bigger than I expected," Jim said. "Come on," Rushing over to where they parked their gyrecycles. Jim felt his phone buzz and he looked at it.

 _One new voicemail from Claire Nunez_

Confused he played the voicemail.

 _Jim! Get back here right now. Mordred's here with the bell. He came in from the gyre station with a butt-load of changelings and the Troll Guard won't last much longer. I know I'm supposed to stay away from Mordred but I don't think there's any other way. If anything happens. I want you to know I love you. Bye._

A surge of fear washed over Jim.

"What is it?" Krem asked.

"Mordred's at Trollmarket," Jim barely formed the words as he shoved his helmet on and hopped on his gyrecycle. Without another word, he started his cycle and took off.

"Woah wait for me!"

•^^•


	20. Battle of the Bell Part 2

**Chapter 20: Battle of the Bell Part 2**

•^^•

Mordred towed the massive bell behind him with a stream of red magic as he set foot onto the Trollmarket balcony. He descended the stairs stepping over the few Troll Guard and Changelings that lay crumbled to stony pieces from the fighting. Dozens of changelings stood in a wide circle at the base of the stairs forming a barrier between the frightened trolls, captured Troll Guard, and the bell. Mordred got to the bottom and set the bell in the open space. He smiled, he knew there were 10 minutes to midnight and soon the end of humanity.

"Is this everyone?" Mordred asked a changeling.

"There are still a few stragglers," The changeling responded.

As if on cue, a changeling got thrown from the crowd, flew into the open space and landed in front of Mordred, knocked out.

"I see," Mordred said sarcastically. He turned to see Claire in full armor and staff, hovering above the crowd.

"Well if it isn't little miss Morgana," Mordred said.

"Morgana's long gone and you will be too." Claire glared at him.

"Oh, there's still a little bit of my sister left in you. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to do this." He said as he held up his charred hand.

Claire did everything she could to block his words out of her mind. She didn't have time to doubt herself, Merlin warned her against it. She was in control and Morgana was gone.

"Now if you don't mind, I've got a Draknagoth to unleash and I feel like you might get in the way."

Mordred suddenly slashed at her with his magic but Claire quickly deflected it with her staff.

Mordred scowled and lashed out again and Claire deflected again. Claire shot a blast of magic from her staff and Mordred deflected it with his good hand.

Now he was getting annoyed. Mordred unleashed multiple streams of magic at Claire, but she flew up and out of reach.

"Looks like you're not the almighty wizard you say you are," Claire mocked.

Mordred's face scrunched in fury and he rose off the ground. He shot through the air at Claire, who was expecting this. She flew away through the cavern with Mordred in hot pursuit. With this distraction, Snaros used his ax and cut the captured Troll Guard free from their bonds.

With a magical dogfight above and fighting on the ground, Trollmarket was in chaos. Which was not what Romkil was expecting when he rounded the corner with Barbara.

"What?! I was gone for 5 minutes," Romkil exclaimed. "Get to the library and hide," Romkil yelled over his shoulder to Barbara. She was tempted to stay out of spite and help but in seconds knew she was a little out of her league. She darted back to the library as Romkil entered the fight.

Romkil fought his way to Snaros who was slicing at a changeling. Romkil tackled the changeling and slammed its head into the ground ending the fight.

"Snaros, I told you to watch Claire!" Romkil yelled.

"I am," Snaros said as he pointed above them. Claire shot above them followed by Mordred.

Romkil growled. "You know what I meant!"

"There was no stopping her, so I joined her," Snaros said and threw his ax at a charging changeling.

Romkil wanted to scold him more but was interrupted when a changeling came and punched him in the face. Romkil looked at the changeling with a deadly glare, making the changeling's eyes go wide. Romkil yelled as he hit the changeling in the chest and sent him flying.

Overhead Claire dodged another blast of magic. She knew she couldn't keep this up for long, she just had to distract him long enough to miss his window to strike the bell. As she flew faster than she ever had before she narrowly missed falling rocks that Mordred blasted to hit her. Speaking of time, Claire hastily pulled out her phone to check the time. It was 11:59 pm.

Shocked, she put her phone away and jerked to a stop in the air. She sent a ball of magic hurtling at Mordred hoping to block his path from the front of the Trollmarket. He suddenly sent a huge surge of magic that Claire didn't have time to block. She was thrown backward and flung down to the ground. Claire's phone fell out and she managed to prop herself up in time to see the clock turn to midnight.

She looked up right as Mordred shot past her towards the bell.

"No!" Claire cried out.

Without any hesitation, Mordred landed in front of the bell, picked up a fallen staff, and slammed it against the bell.

A loud gong noise rang through Trollmarket causing many to stop and cover their ears. But this time the ring didn't stop, the sound stretched and continued to ring as the ground shook. A small ball of light appeared above the bell and slowly grew bigger.

By the time Claire pulled herself off the ground the circle of light was as big as a car. Wind was rippling through the cavern as the portal grew bigger. Teeth gritted, she flew towards the bell.

Mordred was laughing like a mad scientist as he watched the light grow and the portal expanded. Claire thrust her staff forward and let a stream of purple light burst out. Fortunately, Mordred was so captivated that he was caught off guard as the stream wrapped around him. Claire pulled her staff back and with it, she hurled Mordred across the cavern in seconds. Claire spun back to the bell with her staff. From her memory, she recalled the spell that she used on the Nyarlagroth. A huge stream of magic rocketed from her staff and struck the bell. She landed on the ground to get more traction as the spell was pushing her backward.

"Stop!" Yelled Mordred as he flew back towards Claire. His hands glowing with red magic, ready to strike.

As he was about to attack Claire, Jim came hurtling down from the balcony and deflected Mordred's magic with his arm shield. Relief washed over Claire and she kept the steady stream of magic on the bell. Slowly the bell was beginning to glow red from the heat of the spell.

Mordred screamed in rage and shot a blast of magic at Jim who deflected it again. Mordred charged at Jim and with his fists glowing red he attacked.

Mordred was fast as he tried to hit Jim, but Jim was just as quick. He deflected blows and counteracted with his own. Which only made Mordred more furious.

Then a noise cut through the sound of rumbling earth and howling winds. A mountainous roar emanated from beyond the portal. The Draknagoth was about to enter their world.

Without a second of hesitation, Claire poured out the last of her energy into her spell. Slowly a giant tusk began to appear from the light of the giant portal.

Suddenly, a blinding and forceful explosion ignited in front of Claire as the bell burst into a million hot pieces. Everyone in the vicinity was thrown back, Jim and Mordred skidded across the floor.

"Noooooo!" Mordred cried out as he scrambled to look up at the portal. He watched the portal waver and the giant tusk of the Draknagoth was suddenly separated from the creature as the portal died out. The tusk fell and created a crater in the floor where it landed. Silence filled the Trollmarket.

Mordred screamed in rage as he magically grabbed Jim by the collar of his armor and threw him with incredible force into a wall of the cavern.

"You will pay for this!" Mordred screamed. Jim tried to move but was too imbedded in the rock wall that he was having difficulty prying himself out. He thought Mordred's attack would come any second but after moments of struggling with the cavern wall, he noticed he wasn't attacked.

Jim looked up in time to see Mordred hovering away and over to Claire.

"Claire!" Jim called out as he saw her lying on the ground. Her eyes were closed, there was blood on her face and her helmet had been thrown off. Jim frantically tried to pull himself out but was making little progress.

"You took away my victory," Mordred seethed. "And you will never do it again!" He stopped a few feet away from her and held out his good hand, palm facing her. It surged with red magic that was building and kept getting brighter.

"CLAIRE!" Jim yelled as he tried to pull himself from the rock wall with all his strength. He managed to get one of his legs free, but Jim knew deep down that he wouldn't make it to Claire in time. Panic filled his chest as he kept urgently tugging away from the wall. Jim watched in horror as Mordred's spell grew brighter and brighter, then all at once burst towards Claire.

•^^•


	21. Battle of the Bell Part 3

**Chapter 21: Battle of the Bell Part 3**

•^^•

It wasn't until the blinding red light of Mordred's spell went out that Jim took in what happened.

There, standing between Claire and Mordred, was Romkil. He had taken the entirety of the spell. His chest was badly burned. Romkil fell to his knees, pain shadowed his shocked face.

"Dad!" Jim cried and pulled his shoulder free from the cavern wall.

"Insolent changeling!" Mordred said in anger.

Then out of nowhere, Nomura landed between Romkil and Mordred.

"You were saying?" She teased. Then she started slicing at the young wizard. Mordred quickly drew back and distanced himself.

"Master Jim! It was a trap!" Blinky called out. Jim looked over to see Blinky on the balcony waving his four arms at Jim.

"Blinky, help Claire!" Jim yelled as he kept trying to pry the rest of himself out.

Down below, the fighting started back up again. Troll against changeling.

Jim burst his other shoulder from the rock. Nomura kept Mordred distracted as he tried to take her down with his magic. She spun and dodged to lure him away from Romkil and Claire. Blinky made it to the bottom of the stairs and carefully picked Claire up. Jim kept trying to escape the cavern wall as he saw Blinky take Claire away.

 _She's alive, she's gotta be_ , Jim forced himself to think. The image of Romkil's injury didn't give Jim the same hope for him.

After an excruciatingly long minute, Jim was finally able to pull the rest of himself free. He slid down the side of the cavern and landed with a roll. Jim rushed to Romkil's side.

"Dad!" Jim said, looking over his father's wound.

Romkil was laying down, looking at the cavern ceiling, trying to keep breathing. His chest was completely blackened from the blast. Jim could see Romkil's skin already began to turn to stone around the charred skin that jutted out of his chest.

"I'm sorry," Romkil gasped. "I shouldn't have left."

"Dad, it's gonna be okay, just hold on," Jim said urgently, trying to figure out how to help him.

Romkil lifted his hand off the ground and reached for Jim's hand, clasping it weakly.

"When I first held you as a baby...I knew you would accomplish impossible things," Romkil wheezed. "I'm proud to have witnessed...who you've become." Romkil's hand slid from Jim's.

All Jim could do was watch as his father's body was quickly turning into stone.

You...are...extraordinary…" Romkil said and closed his eyes. Slowly his face turned to stone. Solidifying Romkil's death.

Jim looked over his father's stone form and squeezed his eyes shut, letting hot tears roll down his cheeks.

An explosion of magic from behind interrupted Jim's mourning. Bringing him back to the severity of the situation going on around him. He wiped the tear streaks from his face and stood. He looked down on his father one more time before drawing his blade. With his brows furrowed, Jim re-entered the fight.

"Mordred!" Jim called, standing his ground.

Mordred snapped his head towards Jim, ignoring Nomura and hovered towards him.

"Looking for another beating?" Mordred said with a crazed look on his face.

Jim just scowled as Mordred approached, on guard for any attack.

"You still think you can stop me? Ha! I will rebuild the bell and I will be victorious," Mordred began to circle around Jim through the air. He pulled out Jim's amulet and grasped it in his good hand, engulfing it in red magical flames. Jim let a low growl escape his lips.

"I have your precious amulet. And once I destroy it you'll need a miracle to-" Suddenly something large fell on top of Mordred, smashing him face-down into the ground.

Jim was surprised to find Krem was the large something.

"Eat rock you jerk," Krem huffed, still surprised with himself that he just did that.

Moments earlier Mordred didn't notice Krem crept in onto the balcony above. He also didn't notice Krem's swan dive off the balcony.

"Krem! The Amulet!" Jim yelled out.

"Oh right," Krem quickly pulled the amulet out of Mordred's hand, waved the red flames away and threw it towards Jim.

Immediately, Mordred blasted Krem off, sending him flying and reached a tentacle of magic to grab the amulet as if soared. But before he could reach it, Jim snatched it mid-air and pulled it towards himself.

Light glowed around Jim as the two pieces of the amulet rejoined and reattached itself to Jim's armor. Blinding light pulsed through his armor as he landed on the ground.

Jim stood tall as the light faded to reveal his original silver armor. Jim felt he had an added boost of confidence as he looked at his blade to see it's familiar daylight shine. Jim smiled.

"I guess miracles do happen," Jim said and charged at Mordred.

Mordred shot coils of red magic as Jim and he hurtled over each one. Mordred dodged a slice from Jim's sword and knocked him back with a ball of magic. Mordred gained altitude and let it rain blasts of magic which Jim rolled out of the way before he was pelted by them. Jim spun and threw his blade at Mordred who ducked right in time. Jim's sword reappeared in his hand and Jim ran up the side of the cavern and leaped at Mordred in the air. Mordred shot a blast of magic and Jim deflected it with his shield. As Jim descended he cut Mordred across the chest.

Jim hit the ground and rolled to a stop, he looked up to see Mordred wrap his good arm around his chest. Instead of blood, ash crumbled out of his wound. Mordred didn't let his injury slow him down though. He quickly lashed out and hit Jim's shield multiple times with his beams of magic. Pushing him across the stony ground.

Jim brought out one of his leg glaives and threw it at Mordred. It spun and stabbed into Mordred's burned hand. He cried out, more offended than hurt as he looked at his hand in angry disbelief.

Mordred pulled out the glaive and threw it to the ground.

"That's it!" Mordred yelled and he built up a giant red ball of magic and threw it down at Jim.

Jim saw as if in slow motion his opening. He jumped towards the oncoming ball of magic and slides through it. Then as he was still moving through the magic he came out the other side and right at Mordred. He didn't have time to react when Jim brought his sword up in a fluid motion and stabbed him through the chest.

Mordred gasped in shock as both he and Jim fell to the cavern floor. Jim landed a few feet away and watched as Mordred rose with the sword still in his chest.

He let out a final rage-filled scream as he dissolved into a pile of ashes. The sword clattered to the ground.

Far off in the Trollmarket, Merlin's eyes opened.

Jim took a deep breath. It was over. He walked over, picked up his sword and sheathed it to his back.

Cheers rang out as trolls clapped and yelled for joy. Jim nearly forgot all the trolls that were a distance away. Through the commotion, Jim noticed that all of the remaining changelings had either surrendered or were tied up by the Troll Guard.

Trollmarket was finally safe.

•^^•

* * *

Stay tuned for more!


	22. Aftermath

**Chapter 22: Aftermath**

•^^•

Jim paced outside the entrance of Claire's cave apartment. He nervously glanced over at the curtain that separated him from Claire. His mom wouldn't let him in while she did a full inspection. He hoped he wasn't too distracting with the noise his silver armor made while he continued to pace. After what seemed like an eternity, Barbara finally came out from behind the curtain.

"How is she?" Jim asked.

"She has a concussion and a cut on her head but it only needed a few stitches. Besides that, she should make a full recovery," Barbara said reassuringly.

"Good. That's good to hear," Jim let out a sigh of relief.

"She's still unconscious, but I'm going to get something for the stitches. Keep an eye on her, will you?"

"Yeah, I will." Jim nodded.

Barbara walked past him but Jim turned to her, making her stop.

"Hey Mom, I'm sorry about dad." He said solemnly.

Barbara paused and softly smiled.

"It's okay kiddo, I know things didn't work out the way we would have hoped but in the end, I guess he made the right choice," Barbara said as she gazed out onto Trollmarket. She looked back at her son and motherly brushed his hair aside with her fingers. Then she walked down the rock steps and away into the Trollmarket.

At his mom's words, Jim couldn't help but remember what Kanjigar said to him in the void. _Do not let your want of old-time overshadow the time you have._

There was no point getting caught up in what could have been if his dad had stayed all those years ago. He just needed to focus on the time he had now with his loved ones.

Jim went to the curtained entrance and pulled the fabric back. He took a deep breath and walked into the room. Over by the far wall lay Claire on a mattress that was raised in an alcove carved into the rock. The top of her head had a bandage wrapped around it. There was a chair next to her bed and Jim sat down on it. He gently took Claire's limp hand in his and rubbed it softly.

It pained Jim to see Claire in such a state. Though ironic enough, it reminded Jim of when they were in Romeo and Juliet. The scene where Juliet, who wasn't really dead, lay in a tomb and Romeo mourned over her. But that wasn't exactly cheering Jim up. So he thought of another scene, the balcony scene. A monologue came into Jim's memory that he felt best fit the situation.

"O, speak again, bright angel. For thou art as glorious to this night, being o'er my head, as is a wingèd messenger of heaven." Jim said and let out a sigh. He wished she never got hurt.

Jim felt a slight tug on his hand. Then a soft voice broke the silence.

"Aye me, oh Romeo," Claire said and her eyes fluttered open. She gave Jim a warm smile. Jim smiled in return and squeezed her hand. It was the only thing he could do to resist the urge to pull her into his arms.

"I thought I almost lost you," Jim whispered.

Claire smiled but then confusion shadowed her face.

"What happened?" She asked.

"You were knocked out from the bell exploding. I was trapped and couldn't get to you. Mordred was about to kill you when Romkil…" Jim paused.

"Jim?"

"Romkil died to save you." He said looking at the ground.

It took a moment for Claire to absorb the news. A sadness settled over her. Then she thought about the last conversation she had with Romkil.

"He knew about the vision. He tried to protect me when Mordred arrived, to keep me from fighting." She paused. "He was trying to keep me safe for you. He really cared about you and was trying to make things right."

Jim was surprised by the information. His eyes started to get misty as pride overwhelmed him. Pride of a father that gave everything he had to his son in the end. Jim took a deep breath. Claire let go of Jim's hand and gently lifted it up to cup the side of his face. Jim blinked away the tears and leaned into her touch.

Claire's hand quickly grew tired and she let it rest on Jim's metal plate chest, she couldn't help but finally notice Jim's armor.

"Your armor, you got the amulet," She stated softly, she touched the amulet.

"Yeah, and it's good to have it back."

"Have you taken it off yet?" Claire asked.

Jim reached and grabbed his amulet. Instantly, the armor disappeared and was replaced by normal clothes.

Claire took a moment to take in his figure. He wore a black t-shirt and blue jeans. She glanced and saw he found sneakers too.

Then, without thinking Claire slid her hand up his arm. His arms were what she expected them to be, muscular and lean. It was different to feel his skin. It was slightly coarse instead of smooth, but she didn't mind. She ran her hand across his chest and could feel the slight beating of his heart, which made her smile. Claire continued to slide her hand up to his neck and felt the hair on the back of his neck disappear down into his shirt a little way. Her hand crept up to Jim's face when Claire froze.

Jim was staring at her with wide eyes. Blushing a deep blue. His baffled expression woke Claire up to realize what she was doing.

She quickly pulled her hand away embarrassed.

"I...thanks for showing me," She blushed a crimson red.

"Uh, yeah," Jim's voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "No problem," He said in a normal tone.

"So, where did these clothes come from?" She asked, trying to ease the awkwardness.

"They were my dad's," Jim said. "I found them when we were going through his things. I also found this…"

Jim pulled out a ring. His father's wedding ring.

"He kept it all this time." Jim smiled as he fiddled with it in his fingers.

Claire reached out and placed her hand on his.

"He was a good man," Claire said, looking into Jim's eyes.

Jim put the ring back and held her hand in both of his.

"Yeah, he was," Jim said. Then he looked up at her.

"Claire, I want you to know that no matter what happens, I'll never leave you. I don't know what the future has in store for us, but I promise you I'll never abandon you."

Claire smiled at Jim. "I'd like that." She took a deep breath, "And I promise to never keep secrets from you ever again."

It was Jim's turn to smile at the promise. He let go of her hand and moved to sit on the side of her bed. He leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"Deal."

•^^•

* * *

I was going to have Merlin explain that Mordred turned to ash because his soul was corrupted and that was how the daylight blade reacts to stone hearts. Then Merlin was going to reassure Jim that because Romkil stepped in, Claire's fate is open to endless possibilities. I would also have written that NotEnrique decided to go back to Arcadia to help watch the children with Barbara and Stickler.

But I wanted more Jlaire time. So yeah.

Two epilogue chapters coming out next week and then the fanfiction is complete!


	23. To Be or Not To Be Proposed To

**Chapter 23: To Be or Not to Be Proposed to**

Four years later.

A car burst from a dark alleyway as sirens seared through the night air. A man in the passenger seat of the car had on a ski mask and pulled out a gun. He rolled down his window and shot at the pursuing police car. He shot at the police car until one of the tires burst, causing the car to veer off the road. The driver of the escaping car snickered as he and his accomplice escaped with the gems they stole from a jewelry store.

"Too easy," The driver said as he pulled off his mask. They sped through the streets towards a city called Bellridge.

Suddenly, there was a loud roar of an engine coming up from behind them. The two men were surprised to find a man in a dark suit of armor, horns on his helmet, face covered, and on a motorcycle with weird-looking wheels riding next to them. The mysterious rider motioned for them to pull over.

"Is this guy a cop?" The masked man in the passenger seat questioned.

"Is he a cop? Does he look like a cop? Shoot him!" The driver said.

The thief pulled out his gun and shot at the motorcyclist through the open window. The armored man jerked his motorcycle back and moved close behind their car. The driver noticed and stepped on the brake. The rider swerved to avoid getting hit and took off onto a side street.

"Sheesh, what was that?" The gunned criminal asked.

"I don't know but I think we scared him off." The driver said speeding up and glancing out his side window to look for any signs of the motorcyclists.

"Look out!" His accomplice yelled, pointing in front of them.

A dark-haired woman was standing in the middle of the road, about to get hit by their car. The driver slammed on the brakes and their car came to a screeching stop. The woman had disappeared. The driver blinked his eyes a few times to make sure they were still working.

Where'd she go?" The partner said paranoid.

"Who cares let's go," Immediately after the driver spoke, a fist came bursting through the glass of the driver's side window and pulled him out of the car. The criminal yelled as the motorcyclist slammed him to the ground, holding him there.

"You know speeding is against the law right?" The rider said to the driver. His dark visor still covering his face.

The passenger side door opened, the other criminal stepped out of the car and brought out his gun. He was about to shoot the rider when a purple glowing rope shot out of nowhere and wrapped itself around the gun, pulling it out of his hands. He looked over to see the woman that they almost hit held up his gun in her gloved hands. She quickly dismantled it and let the pieces fall to the ground with a smile.

"You should also watch where you're going, running someone over isn't very nice," The woman said.

If the criminal wasn't so freaked out, he would have tried to hit on the woman. She was lean and had long dark hair with a white streak in the front. Half her face was covered with a black cloth, but her eyes radiated a warm brown color in them. He didn't notice until then that she also had a staff. What was she, an anime character?

"As well as stealing," She remarked.

The thief pulled out a knife he had in his pocket.

"Look lady you don't want to mess with me," The thief said. Then a bright purple stream of magic shot from the woman's staff. It wrapped around the man and he was lifted up in the air.

"What the f-" He cried before he was thrown against the car multiple times. It wasn't until he dropped the knife that the woman stopped.

Sirens cut through the silence and were approaching quickly.

"Let's tie them up." The woman said.

"The rope's in my side satchel," Replied the motorcyclist.

The woman walked over to the rider's motorcycle and rummaged through the mounted side bag.

"Uh, it's not here."

The rider paused.

"You forgot to pack it didn't you," The woman said.

"Maybe," Which meant yes. The sirens were seconds away. "Guess we'll have to improvise," He said.

The rider pulled the driver off the ground and slammed him onto the hood of the car. The woman followed and set the other criminal next to his partner. With incredible strength, the rider gripped both edges of the hood with his hands. The metal whined as he curled the edges up and on top of the men, pinning them to the car.

Then the armored man and the women quickly hopped onto the motorcycle together and revved off in a flash of light. The sound of the motorcycle died out as the police cars pulled up in front of the thief's car.

"Well...that just happened," The driver said to his dazed partner.

•^^•

This was Jim's favorite part, riding home with Claire after a successful night of catching the bad guys.

The shops and building lights blazed by as Jim navigated the city streets on his gyrecycle. Claire had on goggles so she could see the beautiful streams of color as they flew past. This was also Claire's favorite part.

As he rode, Jim reflected on how far they both had come.

A lot had happened since they arrived at the New Jersey Trollmarket. Even after Mordred, new enemies surfaced, but nothing the Trollhunters couldn't handle.

As for things back in California, it didn't take long for Arcadia to be in mortal danger again. Luckily they made it back just in time to help save the city and also the world. Now they visit often.

Over the last four years, Jim earned his high school diploma with the help of Claire homeschooling him. He also figured out how to make troll-food a little more refined and even opened up a little restaurant in Trollmarket.

Claire had grown into a beautiful young lady, a few inches taller and she'd let her hair grow out. She got into a prestigious performing arts school in New York and was in her last semester of school. She also learned everything she could from Merlin and became a remarkable wizard.

With the stones that Blinky kept from previous Trollhunters, Jim managed to find the one that let him walk in daylight. And with it, Jim and Claire got to go on more dates together. Not to mention that October was the time when he could walk freely around. Always using the excuse that he was heading to a costume party. And whenever they did go to costume parties, he usually won best costume.

Merlin had been traveling around the world, revisiting places he knew, reuniting with old acquaintances, and searching for more wizards to teach.

Nomura was made the commander of the Troll Guard. Krem became the leader of Trollmarket and Galerg got Krem's old job as assistant. After a lot of failed attempts, Krem managed to share his feelings towards Nomura and after many more attempts, she began to see he wasn't such a weakling after all.

Blinky taught troll history to the young trolls in the library, many needed to be updated on how Angor Rot helped defeat Morgana in the end.

Life eventually calmed down enough that Jim and Claire worked part-time fighting crime, saving lives, and catching human bad guys. Which was what they had just finished doing for the night.

Jim pulled off the street and drove down into a big sewerage pipe off the city's river. He drove until they reached the gyre station entrance. He came to a stop and cut the engine. Claire hopped off and Jim parked his bike. They traveled through the pipes and tunnels until they made their way onto the balcony overlooking Trollmarket.

Jim removed his amulet and put it in his pocket. They casually leaned on the balcony banister as they kept talking.

"I totally thought I packed the rope. Guess I was a little distracted today," Jim said.

"Why's that?" Claire asked.

"Oh well, it's a secret," Jim said playfully.

"Secret? I thought we weren't keeping secrets from each other." She said skeptically.

"You were the one that promised that if I remember correctly. Besides, this one is special," He smiled.

"How come?"

"Because it will change the future," He said with a wink.

"Yeah sure." Claire rolled her eyes, turned and gave Jim a kiss on the cheek. "Then I'll leave you to your secret. I need to head back to my dorm, I have a paper due next week and I want to finish it tonight." And she started walking away.

Jim's expression fell.

"Wait, I thought you were going to stay a little longer."

"Sorry, homework calls," Claire called out as she made her way to the exit.

Jim started to panic as things weren't going exactly as planned. So he decided to skip to the part that would catch her attention.

"O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?" Jim called out.

Claire paused. She raised an eyebrow and smiled at Jim over her shoulder, recognizing the line in a heartbeat.

"What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?" Claire turned and responded.

"Th' exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine," Jim said confidently. He stepped closer.

"I gave thee mine before thou didst request it, And yet I would it were to give again," Claire said with a dramatic sigh.

"Wouldst thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?" Jim asked playfully.

"But to be frank, and give it thee again. And yet I wish but for the thing I have. My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep. The more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite." Claire passionately said.

Jim smiled, he forgot how good she'd gotten. Even better than she did opening night in high school. Jim was so distracted that he nearly forgot his line. He cleared his throat to help transition to his next part.

"O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard. Being in night, all this is but a dream, Too flattering-sweet to be substantial." Jim said dramatically.

Claire tittered but continued. "Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed." Then she turned away from Jim, acting as she did four years earlier. "If that thy bent of love be honourable, Thy purpose marriage," She turned. "Send me wor-" Claire stopped. She found Jim down on one knee, smiling up at her.

From his jacket pocket, Jim pulled out a small ring box. Claire's eyes widened and she covered her mouth to keep it from gapping.

"Claire, I liked you the moment I met you and my love for you has only grown. You are amazing. You've stuck by me through more than I thought possible. You mean the world to me."

He opened up the ring box and showed a beautiful violet diamond set in a silver band with 2 more gems surrounding it.

"Claire Nunez, will you marry me?"

Claire smiled from ear to ear as tears were building up. "Yes, of course, yes." She choked out. Jim's smile widened and he immediately stood. She took a joy-filled breath and brushed a tear from her cheek as she let Jim slip the ring on. It fit perfectly. She examined it briefly and loved everything about it. Claire smiled up at Jim and took his face in her hands and kissed him. Jim pulled her close and tightly held her.

As they kissed, Jim thought he could stay in this moment forever.

Then a noise caught them both off guard. They turned to see a small gathering of trolls including their friends down in Trollmarket cheering for them.

"Well done Master Jim!" Blinky yelled at the top of his lungs.

Claire and Jim laughed at the crowd that was gathering but that didn't stop them from completing the moment with another blissful kiss.

•^^•


	24. The Last Spark

Alright here is the chapter I basically knew every part about and wrote before the rest of the story was even mapped out. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 24: The Last Spark**

Two years later.

 _How am I going to tell him?_ Claire worriedly thought as she walked down the geode-lit steps towards the New Jersey Trollmarket. She wasn't sure how Jim would react but he needed to know.

Last week, Claire had lost her job as a production manager at a big performing arts center nearby. She recently used all her sick days and missed so many hours of work from fighting crime that she got fired. Plus having a stomach flu hadn't helped either. Jim did his best to make her feel better but it was so overwhelming that Claire felt she needed to get away for a few days. She just returned from Arcadia by way of the Gyre.

Claire walked down the long stone tunnel and turned right. She made her way out of the tunnel and onto the Trollmarket balcony. She descended the steps, trying to act casual as she did. After she made her way through the market stands she entered the library.

Blinky was there teaching young trolls a history lesson.

"Now, who can tell me what Deya the Deliverer's favorite fighting technique was?" Before any of the trolls could reply Blinky saw Claire enter the room.

"Fair Claire, you have returned!" Blinky called out. "Now everyone, pull out your books and read chapter 21 to find the answer." Blinky walked past the young trolls and over to Claire. "How was your trip to Arcadia, I hope you had a "dope" time."

Claire couldn't help but chuckle. "It was great," Claire said. She felt a little relieved that Jim wasn't there.

"That is good to hear, Master Jim will be happy you are back. He has been in an odd mood since you left."

"Really?" Claire asked, dread washing over her.

"Yes, but I'm sure your presence will return him to normal."

"Do you know where he is?"

"I believe he said he was going to rest in your dwelling,"

From behind Blinky, a young troll asked him a question, diverting his attention. Claire took the opportunity to sneak away, not wanting to intrude any longer.

As Claire made her way to her cave apartment she recalled the conversation she had with Jim before she left. She told Jim that she had pushed herself too far and regretted it. She may have worried Jim when she said she didn't want him to come with her to Arcadia. Claire saw the hurt in Jim's expression. She should have said that she just needed time to collect herself, but of course, she had to be overdramatic and just left without another word. She should have reassured him that none of it was his fault.

Hopefully, she wasn't too late to tell him the truth.

She climbed the stone steps to their cave apartment and approached the wooden front door. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

Claire looked into their apartment which they had spruced up after they got married. They had put dividers to separate the front of the apartment from the back, giving them a bedroom.

"Hey it's me," Claire called out.

"Claire?" Jim called back. Claire went to Jim in their bedroom and found him sitting at their computer desk. He stood up but didn't move to greet her.

"How was your trip?" He asked a little formally.

"Good," Claire replied, taken aback. She wasn't sure why but there was a tension in the air that she wasn't sure what the cause was. She went and sat on the edge of their bed and looked up at Jim.

"Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something." She said mustering her courage.

"Me too. But you go first" He said seriously.

Claire was surprised at this. _What's going on with him?_ She pushed the thought aside before she could lose her nerve.

"For starters, I wanted to say I'm sorry for rushing out of here as I did, I was just so done with the stress I was feeling." She began.

"Was it about losing your job or…is there something else?" He asked solemnly.

"Losing my job is part of it, but now there is something else," Claire said taking a deep breath.

Jim had begun to pace and slowly let out a tense breath of air.

"I think I know what it is." He said not looking at her.

"You do?" Claire stared at him, eyes wide.

"I was thinking about it when you left and...I think that it's not right to hold you back from following your goals."

"Excuse me?" She said confused.

"I mean you shouldn't have to be the one to make money for both of us. You shouldn't have to sacrifice what you want to do just to earn money."

"Woah I never said-"

"I know you only took the production manager job in the first place because you kept missing the rehearsals because of me and the criminals we were chasing."

"Jim, I-"

"You shouldn't be letting me hold you back from what you deserve. I think that if you need to take a break from things here and go follow your dreams, I won't stop you." He said firmly.

Claire sat there shocked. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was Jim trying to push her away?

"Are you done?" Claire said in frustration.

Jim looked down at her confused.

"Tell me I'm wrong." He said, anger in his tone.

Claire wanted to protest that everything he said was false but she paused. _Was he right?_ Well, she knew he was dead wrong about the whole not needing to be the one making money for the both of them, that just sounded sexist. But the rest seemed to resonate with her. She had sacrificed a lot to help Jim protect others. Her original dream was to perform on the stage, not manage it. In a way, she was happier now that she didn't have to do that job anymore.

But while she was away she realized her dreams had changed, not because she was overwhelmed or busy, but because she found something more important and just as precious.

Jim took Claire's silence as a confirmation to his accusations. His anger was quickly replaced by defeat.

Claire looked up and saw the way the light seemed to fade from Jim's eyes as he stood there. This wasn't like Jim. Did leaving for Arcadia scare him? What was the real underlying issue? She thought back on his words again and an idea struck her.

"What exactly do I deserve?" Claire asked sincerely.

Jim faced her but kept his eyes on the ground. "You deserve so much more than I can give you. You deserve the chance to be an actress, not work a job you hate. You deserve a husband that can live above ground, take you out on proper dates, start a family..." The last word died in his throat. Jim immediately turned away from Claire, head lowered, and folded his arms.

Claire understood what Jim was scared about and stood up from their bed. He thought he wasn't making her happy.

"Jim, you can't make my decisions for me." She started to tear up. "I have _everything_ I need."

Claire walked over and put herself in front of Jim. He glanced off to the side.

"I love _you,"_ Claire said. She tried to meet his eyes, but he wouldn't turn to her. With her hand, she gently guided his face back towards hers. His eyes were misty and kept glancing away from her. Claire's forehead creased and she softly smiled.

"And that's _never_ going to change." She removed her hand.

Jim took a breath and reluctantly looked at her. Her countenance undeniably told the truth. She really was happy being with him.

He finally let go of his built-up fears and relaxed his shoulders. Reassured, he reached out and took her hand in his. He leaned down and touched his forehead to hers. They moved closer and embraced wholeheartedly.

As Claire rested her head against his chest she could hear the soft lull of his heartbeat. With that, she remembered why she wanted to talk to him in the first place.

"And besides…" She paused, gathering up her courage again. "I've already started a family with you."

Initially, Jim thought she meant that the two of them were already a family, but the way she said it made him feel like it was supposed to mean something else.

Confused he gently pulled away and looked down at her. Claire lifted her head and their eyes connected.

Claire spoke in almost a whisper. "I'm pregnant."

It took Jim a moment to process the two words and then another to react. His eyes grew wide as his jaw went slack. Speechless, he searched her face to make sure what she said was real. In her wet eyes gleamed an earnest joy, giving Jim all the confirmation he needed.

Jim stepped back and ran his hand through his hair slightly overwhelmed.

He flashed-back to when he and Claire were taking care of a sack of flour together as a school project. It didn't exactly end well for the flour sack, but just remembering how they talked about what parenthood might be like someday, today, reignited a hope in him. One that hadn't been lit in years.

A tender smile slowly grew over his face. He met her eyes again.

"I get to be…a Dad?" He softly asked.

She nodded and let a shaky breath rush out.

"Yeah. You're gonna be a papá." A tear fell down her cheek as she smiled in relief. Happy to know he really wanted this.

Jim took a step forward and lifted his hand, softly wiping away Claire's tear. Jim's smile grew as they peered into each other's eyes. He gently pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her.

Claire lightly pressed up against him, engulfing herself in his warmth and relished the moment. The moment she knew everything would be alright.

•^^•

* * *

And never was there so much joy than this of Claire and her Trollhunter.

Whoops I rewrote Shakespeare :V

Thanks to all the comments and positive feedback. Also thanks for everyone's patience. I was not expecting this fanfic to take this long, but I'm glad it's finished. Thank you Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia for being such an amazing show!


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